Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos
by WinterJay
Summary: Kronos is back. Forging a metal that allows him to control god/monster essences into his scythe, he has the power to manipulate the essences of both gods and monsters alike. However, this is only the part of the problem. Two stronger gods have come into play, in a fight that has destroyed worlds. Can Perseus Jackson somehow save his planet, and somehow, woo a certain moon goddess?
1. Chapter 1

**Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson**

_For quite some time now, constant hammering sounds have been heard coming from inside Mount St Helens. However, no mortal could ever pinpoint the exact location of what was causing the noise, because as soon as they were close to finding it, the noise would stop, or move to another location. Too small to be of any notice to the gods, it continued unstopped for six months. As suddenly as it had started, it stopped, with a final, loud, thud that echoed across the mountainside._

Kronos' POV:

Looking at his completed scythe, Kronos felt a thrill of pleasure and pride. Now mixed with the mineral which had completely reformed his essence, the scythe gave him an added ability: to summon monster essences from Tartarus, or anywhere, in fact, and reform them at will.

When he first had the stone, it was a clumsy chunk of dull metal. But now, combined with his scythe, it surrounded the scythe with a black aura, and reinforced all of the scythe's weak points. After admiring his work with a look of pleasure, he put it down beside the forge he had crafted it with. A look of anger crossed his face. He wanted to admire it more, but there were more important things to do. Grudges to settle, plans to be made. Anger washed over him as he remembered his defeat at the hands of the Poseidon brat. His defeat still pained him after he had taken his revenge, killing the brat's mother and stepfather, unable to take vengeance on Perseus himself, having disappeared. After all he had done, Perseus Jackson, hero of Olympus, was used, shunned and forgotten like an old rag. Exiled from his camp by his own half brother, Perseus Jackson went missing. He smirked. Even Heracles had had a better fate. In case the brat tried to ruin his plans, he had set a trap to ensure the death of the brat. Then, with no god or demigod able to stop his rise...

Olympus would fall by his hand.

**Percy's POV:**

Taking deep breaths, I looked back. The road behind was empty, except for the trees and whatnot. The moonlight shone brightly away from me, and I was sure I was hidden."FINALLY!" I thought. It had taken me a long time to lose the monster again. It would have been easier if I knew what it was, but gods, I couldn't tell what the hell it is. I don't know anything about it. I have never seen anything like it before, even in the Labyrinth. Honestly, it looks like a combination of monsters put together, but who could do that? Hades? Pah. Zeus would have made a ruckus.

Zeus... I tried telling him about the new and unnatural monsters, but he wouldn't listen. All thanks to my half brother Dylan accusing me of trying to let monsters in Camp Half Blood. Which wasn't even true. It was him who had done it, and as I fought the hellhounds he had tried to sneak into camp, he accused me of everything he had done.

I waited as Chiron decided what to do with me, after all Dylan's friends stood up to back Dylan up. I watched as Annabeth, Grover, Travis, Connor, Katie all my friends stared at me disdainfully and walked over to Dylan's side. Only Nico and Thalia stood by me. But there was nothing they could do. After Chiron banished me, they gave me ten minutes to pack and get out of Camp Half Blood. Ten minutes. I could live with that, but what crushed me was seeing Annabeth kiss Dylan as I walked out. Not a simple peck, it was a full blown French kiss. I felt as if a cold hand had clenched my heart and wrenched it out. Wheeling around, I got out of the cursed dump of a camp as fast as I could. I stopped my trip down memory lane, and lay back on my backpack. It pained him that the monster had chased him to the borders of Camp Half Blood. Looking at the camp made caused his heart to ache and sadness to take over him. Homeless, orphaned, alone and dirt poor, I slipped into a fitful sleep.

**Thalia's POV**

It's been months since Percy was banished, and even though the hunters left the next day to search for him, we could not find him. I looked up at the stars, and wondered where he was. Day by day went by, and there was still no news from anyone about him. His disappearance worried Nico a lot. Yet, no matter, how hard we searched, Percy remained missing. She still saw Percy's devastated face when he saw Annabeth kissing Dylan. What had she been thinking? "Percy... Where are you?" I wondered aloud, softly, as the hunters went back into their tents to sleep.

**Artemis' POV**

"Percy... Where are you?" I looked at Thalia from the forest. Percy... The name made my heart feel pangs of pain. Percy... His courage and honor had astounded me, and with his looks, he was delicious. Now, he was gone, and despite being harassed by father about this, there was nothing I could do. His tracks disappeared as if someone was hiding him from us. There was no trace at all! I took an arrow and fired in frustration. Percy... I will find you soon... And when I do, a shudder of anticipation went through her body and into her core. A shudder that made her feel very much- womanly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson.**

_The monster moved gracefully, trying to get used to its new form. It was making steady progress, it thought. When it had first been summoned, it milled around, falling, like a newborn child. Now, it could move without too much noise. This was quite a feat for a monster the size of a five story building. It laughed, as it saw where the boy it had been chasing had run to. All was going as his master had planned. He was sure the boy could see it if it went closer. Following his master's instructions, he headed toward the blasted camp. As he did, parts of him recalled how their essences had been sent to Tartarus because of this camp. A part of him remembered chasing after this same boy, a satyr and some human to this camp before his vaporization. Other parts remembered almost the same situation, but with different demigods. But there would be a difference this time, an important difference. _

_He would win this time. He was a minotaur, and so much more. He would lure the boy out, kill him, then destroy his camp. Waves of joy and pleasure filled his hearts, and his entire body coming to his head. He let it out in a loud roar that cut through the air._

**Percy's POV**

My dream shattered, as the familiar, trademark roar that sounded like ten monsters roaring at the same time woke me up in time for me to stop myself rolling over Riptide. Gods, chasing me in real life wasn't enough for these monsters, they had to chase me in my dreams, too?! Then I heard the familiar thuds that told me that it was close. Looking around, I stood up and saw the thing headed away from me. I relaxed. It hadn't found me. Numbnuts was probably still looking for me. My heart froze as I saw where it was headed. Camp Half Blood. Then the feeling stopped. What had they done for me except give me pain and sadness, and nightmares that would not go away? They had their hero Dylan to stop the thing anyway, who needed me? I was just about to go away when I realized Nico was there. Thalia was probably away with the hunters, but Nico would have stayed to enjoy his new cabin. The others would most likely be abandoned by Dylan the fantastic to die. I groaned. Gritting my teeth, I ran towards the monster from hell.

**Artemis' POV**

I was furious. Calling me to search for some monster with weird tracks was enough, but father had called my search for Perseus 'unreasonable' and 'questionable'? How dare he! To allow the exile of a hero at the hands of his forktongued stepbrother was enough, we would not search for him? How were the gods not able to see through his wall of lies? He behaved just like Ephialtes, a traitor at heart.

Then I felt the moon's call, and with it, a twang of pain as I felt something unnatural walk near my presence. I spun around. It stood as almost as high as Hephaestus' automatons, and walked with an unnatural grace. 'What?' I groaned. What devilry made this monster? I saw the likenesses of three hellhounds, a drakon, two empousa and a... minotaur in the being. It stopped, like it was entertaining some pleasurable thoughts, then roared. The roar was like nothing I had heard in my many millenias on Earth. It was a mix of everything I had saw in the monsters' being, roaring at once, in different pitches, tones and volumes. As usual, my moaning over Jackson had made me oblivious. AGAIN. That boy was a distraction. A delectable, delicious distraction.

"Lady?" I heard Thalia say. I knew the other hunters were already gathered, weapons at the ready, behind her. "It seems we have found father's monster." "What should we do, my lady?" "Let us be off." I said, leading the charge.

**Percy's POV**

I reached Numbnuts just before he reached the borders of the camp. Then Kronos appeared. Snickering, he shouted "Merry meet, Jackson!" before throwing a very familiar weapon the length the same as Numbnut's height into the ginormous hands of the minotaur thing ,aka Numbnuts. The enormous weapon was the minotaur's old omega axe, lengthened to fit his new, big frame. As soon as the axe landed in the hands of numbnuts, Kronos flashed away. Douche.

Twirling the axe, Numbnuts set his eyes on at me. Fantastic. He made a sudden downward slash, and I barely dodged it, rolling to the right. Axe that size, there was no way I could block it. The axe hit the ground with the sound and impact of a sonic boom. Bloody hell, that was overkill. I wanted to sit and think about what to do, but numbnuts had other ideas. Spinning and dislodging his axe at the same time, he made a slash that would have sliced me in half, if a skeleton hadn't picked me up a thrown me clear of the slash.

"Getting soft, Percy?" Nico asked with a smile.

"Thanks!" I shouted back at one of my only remaining friends.

"Skewer.. you..." Numbnuts rasped, prepping his axe to do what he said. Somebody needed to tell him that you can't skewer someone with an axe like his. Design made it impossible.

"What is this thing?" Nico asked, warily watching numbnuts.

"I don't know, but it has got to have some really numb nuts to have a voice like that."

"Seriously, Jackson?"

"Okay, one word: Kronos."

"Should have kn-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off as the minotaur thing twirled around, making multiple slashes with that blooming axe.

"NICO!" a very familiar voice shouted in horror.

Awesome. Someone else just joined the party, I thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson.**

**Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos**

_Thanatos frowned. He had checked now, and there was no mistaking it. The minotaur and the hellhounds were truly gone. He had checked everywhere! Everywhere except- the abyss?_

_Cursing, he flashed to the abyss. The deep, dark crevice held the titans and other beings that had either too much power, or had really angered the gods through their actions. Foolish creatures! Could the essences of the hellhounds have stupidly ventured there? He was duty bound to check, no matter how much he hated going down that scumhole. He jumped into the abyss, feet first .Seeing something, he spread his wings, slowing his descent, and he came to a stop just inches from a ledge. On the ledge sat a cloud of black shadow, slowly rising upward at snail's pace. _

_Reaching forward ,he tried to push it back down, but his hand slowed without his consent, as if time were pushing it back. A cold hand of dread gripped his heart when he realized what he was seeing. This cold black essence that radiated time power was definitely Kronos'. Why was it so close to the opening of the abyss if he had just been defeated? Realisation hit him with the force of a bomb. Someone was trying to summon the essence of the time god back to Earth. A very powerful someone. At the rate the summoning was taking, Kronos would be back to his prime in about six months. Who could do this? Who had the power?_

_He flashed back to the top of the crevice. Wildly looking around, he looked for other clouds of essence of the time god. Panic gripped him when he could see none. Could the summoner have already summoned enough to bring Kronos' physical form back? There was no time. He had to warn Hades and the Olympians before-_

_Thanatos' thoughts cut off as a sleek silver scythe plowed into his chest._

"_Nobody likes a tattletale, Thanatos." _

**Kronos' POV**

"Merry meet, Jackson!"

Kronos threw the axe into his new creation's hands. Straightening his back, he felt someone try to touch his essence in Tartarus. Not just anyone. He felt Thanatos' power try to invade his essence space. As much as he wanted to stay and utterly destroy that brat, he could not have Thanatos tattling on him to the Olympians that he had just played his 'Get out of jail free' card. Grimacing, he flashed straight into Tartarus' entrance. Thanatos had his back to him and was deeply preoccupied with his thoughts. _Foolish boy._

Grinning, he stepped to the Death god's side, twirling his scythe to make just enough momentum to- 'GRWRACK!'

The scythe plowed into the death god's chest so hard, it's tip portruded from the death god's back.

"Nobody likes a tattletale, Thanatos." He chuckled.

Golden ichor gushed out of the death god's wound, making a mini waterfall of golden ichor. Thanatos screamed, going into a fit of spasms, but the scythe blade kept him impaled. Kronos waited until he stopped his spastic fit. Then the death god chuckled.

"You dare attack me when you are this weak, in my domain?"

Kronos raised an eyebrow. He could see the giant wound already starting to close quickly.

"I am the god of death. In the underworld, I cannot die, no matter how severe the wound. You have summoned only very little of your essence. In your current state, even the sea god's brat could best you with some difficulty. Your scythe can tear souls from their bodies, but here, mine will hold steadfast. You can slash all you want, Kronos, but in this fight, here, I will emerge victorious. "

"I have thought this pretty well through, godling. How about I give you some advice, from an older god to a younger one? If I were you, I would thoroughly examine the situation."

A puzzled look appeared on Thanatos' face. Then he noticed the new mineral on the time god's scythe. His eyes widened.

"Sapporan." He whispered.

"Yes, godling. When Typhon was imprisoned under Mount St Helens, it was sapporan that truly kept him imprisoned. It pulled his essence, and kept his being restricted. He had to erode all the sapporan before he could finally start getting the mountain off himself. You Olympians had thrown as much sapporan in his prison to keep him imprisoned. All your sapporan, in fact. When Typhon was free, you tried to find any remains, but all of the sapporan had been worn away by Typhon. There was a little chunk you had missed, though. Oh, don't bother going to look. It's in my scythe now. I made sure I took all the pieces."

Thanatos froze for a moment, digesting the new information. Then he started bucking and flailing about, trying to get the scythe out of him. It was useless. Even Kronos, in his weakened state, was faster than him. Mentally activating the scythe's power, he started forcefully pulling Thanatos' essence into the scythe. Thanatos screamed for the second time in the same hour. Kronos took just enough essence to make Thanatos weak, then he used the scythe to pull his essence out of himself and into Thanatos. When he started to feel weak, he cut the transfer, pulling the scythe out.

"Now, I need you to do me a favour, Thanatos. I can't kill or kidnap you, that would alert the gods, so I need you to keep quiet about all this nonsense of Kronos reforming quickly, you hear me?" Kronos asked, as if talking to a child.

Thanatos seemed to put up a fight with Kronos' essence inside of him, then his eyes lost their light, and all the fight went out of him as Kronos' essence won.

"Yes. Yes. I will keep quiet."

Kronos chuckled, then flashed back to St Helens. This fight had taken much out of him, and he needed rest quickly. Then he would continue to summon more of his essence. But first, he needed to rest.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, I'm WinterJay, I've been wondering whether to cut this story short, or just stick to it's long storyline. Could you please tell me which you prefer, through pm or review? Also, I'm wondering of whether to make this a Thalico. Please tell me what you guys want! I hope you enjoyed this fanfic! Cheers!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson.**

**Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos**

"What is this thing?" Nico asked, warily watching Numbnuts.

"I don't know, but it has got to have some really numb nuts to have a voice like that."

"Seriously, Jackson?"

"Okay, one word: Kronos."

"Should have kn-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off as the minotaur thing twirled around, making multiple slashes with that blooming axe.

"NICO!" a very familiar voice shouted in desperation.

Awesome. Someone else just joined the party, I thought.

**Percy's POV**

I crossed my fingers and hoped it was nobody from camp.

"I'm fine! Not even a scra-_OUCH!_" Nico shouted.

I looked right. Nico had a reddening cheek with a hand print that looked suspiciously like the work of Thalia. "Don't get distracted in a fight, Nico!"

Nico clutched his red cheek in his palm. "Hades! Who are you? My mother? Percy and I were discussing our plan to attack! We needed to talk!"

Thalia cocked an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

She turned to me with a questioning look.

"Yeah, tell her, Percy!" A very visibly nervous Nico shouted, ensuring Thalia's attention was on me before making begging motions for me to lie.

The last time Thalia found out that I had lied to cover for Nico, she had waited until I stepped in the camp showers, during one of the hunter's visits to Camp Half Blood, and given a whole new meaning to a shocking shower. I still remember spasming on the floor of the showers, unable to move, praying that nobody would come in and see Perseus Jackson, hero of Olympus, naked and having a fit on the floor. It was definitely on my long list of worst experiences ever.

"I am so sorry, Nico," making 'forgive me' gestures with my hands. "But I am not getting involved in this." I turned away from Thalia and Nico, and faced Numbnuts again, so I won't have to see Nico's you-didn't-just-betray-me face. He'll forgive me. Eventually. I hope.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Thalia give me a long, worried look, as if wanting to ask me something, before turning back to face Nico with an evil expression that could rival Kronos'. Nico understandably paled. I know I would have.

He didn't get the chance to defend himself, though, as the minotaur started his attack. Shrinking himself and the axe down to our size, he tried to get all three of us at once, making a horizontal slash that would have cleaved all three of us if Artemis had not blocked the axe. Woah, it could shrink? It's speed and strength had almost tripled! So, when it shrank, it's physical capabilities grew?

"It would do you well to pay attention to your opponent and not distract yourselves."

Artemis said, glaring at Thalia. Thalia flushed, managing a weak response.

"Yes, My lady."

"Perseus Jackson. We have been looking for you." She gave me a glance before facing Numbnuts.

"Well, congratulations! You guys have just found me."

She looked as if she wanted to say something, but then changed her mind and ordered her hunters forward, surrounding the minotaur. Moonlight shone on her face, and Artemis almost glowed with all the moonlight on her. She looked absolutely stunning. Aphrodite's beauty paled in comparison to Artemis' image right now.

"See something you like?" I voice that sounded just like Artemis' resounded in my mind.

I almost dropped Riptide. The goddess of the moon turned around and regarded me with a raised eyebrow.

"A-ah-nuh-nothing." I spluttered, remembering how to make 'n' sounds with my tongue.

Smirking, she looked forward again.

Gods! Did I just think that or-?

I cleared my head and looked at our surroundings. The hunters were in front of me and Nico, surrounding the minotaur with Thalia in the lead. They had made a circle with the minotaur in the middle, giving him a 10 metre radius of free space. The minotaur's strength and speed

Roaring, the minotaur charged Thalia. I tried to block out the strangled roar as Artemis jumped in swiping at the minotaur's throat, calves, and wrists while neatly dodging the minotaur's wild slashes in one smooth motion.

Amazing. When I had first tried fighting it, I'd almost got cleaved. I could not do much against it, because my powers had weakened ever since my father had replaced me with Dylan, as if the sea was forgetting me. When I realised that, I decided I'd hightail out of that battle before I got myself killed.

Artemis was doing a lot of damage against it with her knives, but it was not falling. The wounds she wrought, closed swiftly. What was keeping this thing alive?

I thought hard, wondering what it was. If Kronos created Numbnuts somehow, then he had to have used everything that Numbnuts looked like. Which we be like... two hellhounds, a drakon, a minotaur, and two emousa? If that was so, we had to hit the hearts of each creature that made Numbnuts consisted of. I rushed over to Nico, giving him a brief version of what I was thinking.

"No, three hellhounds is more like it." He said, examining the Minotaur thing.

"You are right." Artemis said, flashing over to us, while her hunters kept the beast distracted.

She quickly told us her plan, before telling us what to do.

"Nico, try to restrict its attacks by grounding it in one place. Perseus... try to find where its hearts are, if you can, of course." She said, giving a playful look, before disappearing into the fray. Nico smiled and wiggled his eyebrows at me, noticing my red face.

"Shut up and die." I squeaked.

"No, thank you, lover boy." He retorted, grinning from ear to ear.

"At least I'm not facing Thalia later." I replied.

That wiped the smile off his face.

Just then, a conch horn blew three times. Oh, joy, the camp had just realised there was a nasty monster trying to attack it. I could see Dylan and Annabeth coming out from camp to lead their attack. The current leader and his girlfriend. Brilliant. My body clenched, making it hard to breathe. "Just pretend they're not there, Percy." I could hear my step father say, as if he were still alive. Looking away, I focused on the Numbnuts. He was going to pay for dragging me back into the shithole.


	5. Chapter 5

_**What up! WinterJay here, this is a bit late, but thanks to book study, Gh0sst and SONxOFxCHAOS for your short but sweet reviews! Also, thanks to all the others who currently follow this story, or put me on your favourite authors, stories and author and story alert! It may not be much, but it makes me happy for some reason. (Maybe its cause I'm a newbie.) This chapter may seem like an ending, but it is not the end. Repeat, THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER, THERE WILL BE MANY SEQUELS STILL. Thanks, and enjoy!**_

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson.**

**Percy Jackson****, Wielder of Chaos**

**Artemis' POV**

Spinning to the right, I avoided the creature's downward axe swipe. While he tried to dislodge it, I flashed back to Perseus and Nico. They had already figured out what I was thinking.

"You are right." I told them.

The minotaur slashed, almost catching a hunter with his axe. The minotaur put power and speed into his axe swings by twirling and spinning around before he made a slash or swing. I told Nico to ground him, knowing that he would choose to do so by summoning the dead. As I turned to Perseus, something inside me clicked , and I wanted to see how he could do. Giving him a lopsided grin, while raising my eyebrow, told him to find where the creature's hearts were. Then I realised what I had done. I went back into the fight, hoping to hide my flustered face.

Thalia ran to my side and noticed my expression.

"My Lady?"

"It's nothing. Do you have a report?" I asked, trying to turn my expression to a serious one.

"Umm, yes." She said, still looking at my face curiously. "The creature continues strong, but we have no injuries or casualties yet."

"Good work, Thalia." I said, giving her a smile.

A conch horn sounded out, drowning out her reply.

Camp Half Blood had finally noticed the creature. Would this affect Perseus? Being close to the ones who neglected him? I shot him a glance. He seemed to be shaking away his thoughts and proceeding toward the creature. Another crack resounded in the night sky.

"My Lady?"

I looked at Thalia. She had been turning her head back and forth, looking at me and Perseus with wide eyes. Slowly, a small frown began to form on her face as if she was making herself believe something.

"Go and brief the demigods, Thalia, I will keep the monster busy."

Turning away from her to hide my reddening face, I dashed toward the monster, distracting it best I could.

I realised that the creature's movements had slowed. Glancing at the creature's feet, I knew Nico was doing his part. From a crack in the ground were at least a dozen skeleton hands that held the creature's feet in place.

As I dodged around the monster, Perseus was doing his job, too, jabbing Anaklusmos into where he thought a heart was.

Behind me, I knew that Thalia was telling their leader, the new and only son of Poseidon there, what to was happening. I saw Ares' children assuming front line positions for the fight while Athena's were somewhere in the middle, making plans and giving orders. Demeter's children sought to help ground the beast by growing plants that clung to the beast's feet. All the other children helped out in any way they could, whether in battle or not.

My spine tingled. Then, I felt it. The unmistakable aura of Kronos. Coming from... the creature? I looked at Perseus. His expression told me that he noticed it too.

"BACK!" I ordered. My hunters obeyed immediately, forming up behind me. The demigods took a longer time to obey.

**Percy's POV**

I recognised that aura. I had felt it when I had fought Kronos', at that time inhabiting Luke's body. Numbnuts looked up, golden light spewing from his body. Everyone had retreated behind me, and I heard Artemis yell at me to retreat. I wanted to, but retreating backward to the campers and Dylan would not be pleasant. I would rather stay here in my place, at the front of the fight.

Numbnuts looked back down and clapped, and everyone froze. Everyone except me and him.

"Perseus Jackson. Still not dead, I see."

Numbnut's mouth did not move, but I recognized the voice.

"Kronos."

Numbnuts had been reforming, changing shapes the moment he clapped, and now he stopped.

His new form was the head and neck of a drakon, sitting on the torso a minotaur, with a pair of hellhound hind legs that helped him stand. Outstretched wings protruded from the minotaur torso, and a clawed tail rested behind the monster. The monster's form grew back to its original five story building height, crushing the skeleton hands and pulling the plants restricting him apart.

"Run away, and I might probably let you live, Jackson. I have had a good change of heart. Flee, and I will spare you. You have suffered much already."

"What will happen to the others?" I asked, gesturing at Artemis, her hunters, and the campers.

"What do you think will happen?"

Then the mino- no, the drakon thing broke the axe into two. The axe dissolved into the mutant drakon's minotaur hands, and an axe blade grew out of his elbows.

I felt very tempted to run. I almost did it, but something stopped me.

I looked back at the frozen fray, and everyone frozen in their tracks. Annabeth. She had been giving orders to the other demigods when Kronos called a timeout. Sadness came over me. She may have dumped me, but I knew it was because she had a lot in common with Dylan. His mother was an architect, and she had brought her son to as many architectural wonders, as well as taught him how to build and all that. I should have known when he first started talking to Annabeth that they were better for each other. If this made her happy, then I guess that I shouldn't spoil that.

I looked at Dylan. He was a major asshole, but who was I to deny him a chance to live? Other figures caught my eye. Travis, Connor, Clarisse, Katie, Chris, Will, and many others. Yes, they had chosen Dylan, but I had fought alongside these people. If they had chosen to support Dylan, then I would respect their decision. I refuse to be some lost, sore loser moping about in self pity.

_Attaboy, Percy. _Hestia's voice said in my head. So Hestia was the cause of my calm mind, and my little pause.

Thalia and Nico stood together, Thalia protecting Nico as Nico struggled to use his power as a son of Hades. At least he was still his father's favourite.

My father had forgotten me. Wait, no. He had replaced me. Dylan was now his number one, his heroic one.

My mind wondered back to my last conversation with father. It had been after I tried to convince Zeus of my innocence and to tell him of the monster. My father had pulled me away, embarrassed.

"_Father, it's true! I saw it! It stands five stories tall! You can't miss it!"_

"_So... it is five stories tall, and looks like a combination of some hellhounds, a minotaur, a drakon and two empousa."_

"_Yes, it's been chasing me sin-"_

"_Percy Jackson. You may have saved Olympus ,shamed Zeus for me, and made me proud, but this is enough! YOU TRIED TO LET TWO HELLHOUNDS INTO CAMP, ALMOST KILLED MY OTHER SON, AND WHEN YOU ARE PUNISHED, YOU TRY TO ESCAPE IT BY CLAIMING A POWERFUL MONSTER IS CHAS-"_

"_BUT IT HAS BEEN CHASING ME FATHER!" I was shouting now._

_Poseidon's face darkened._

"_So be it. Your ego has gotten to your head, son. From today, you can no longer call me father. Fall, and do not come back."_

_He slammed his trident to the ground, and I fell out of Olympus, falling, sobbing, and betrayed._

"Have you made your choice? I grow impatient, boy." The disembodied voice of Kronos spat.

I took a final look at Artemis. She had her open mouth in a small 'O', and was looking at me with complete concern. Her silver eyes stared straight into me, and I shivered with pleasure. What in Hades? I was getting aroused by a frozen moon goddess while making a life or death decision that Kronos had given me. Had I really fallen that far? At this rate, I might as well become one of those perverted old men who ogle every hot girl they could lay their eyes on. I took a final look at the frozen hunters, campers, and a particular beautiful moon goddess with silver eyes that got my heart racing. Silently thanking Hestia, I turned around.

Yes I have. Smiling, I raised Riptide and did a mocking bow.

"O, Kronos, Lord of time and prancing evil rainbow unicorns," I said in a sarcastic voice, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" I shouted, giving my epic Gandalf voice my best. Ian McKellen would be proud, I thought.

There was no reply from Kronos. Instead, time continued ticking on again, and everybody started moving. Then the massive drakon opened its mouth, and greek fire and blades flew out.

I yelled! Making a wall of water to protect everyone behind, I used water from the ground and forced it into the drakon's, mouth, ears and nose. It has got to breathe, I thought. If I didn't let it, it might actually die.

The drakon stopped breathing fire, but fire from its previous blast hit me, and pain exploded in my body like a nuke and I dropped on the ground. My eyes teared. I screamed. My wall of water dropped. I knew I was hurting it, so I didn't stop, not one bit. Riptide started vibrating. Greek fire did not go out, so I didn't waste time trying to douse it with my water. I concentrated all the water that I had summoned into the drakon's mouth. It fought, trying to evaporate my water with flames, and I responded by pushing more water in. Anaklusmos shattered, the raw elemental power destroying it. Bits of my broken weapon buried itself in my body. I forced water into its lungs, summoning more and pushing it in with all the force I could muster. The greek fire stuck to me and spread, burning and burning. Slowly it stopped gasping and retching, and dropped. I didn't stop pushing water in until it stopped its death throes. After what seemed like ages, it burst into sulphur with the force of a bomb.

Everything went black. And finally, ever since my exile, I felt a feeling I had not felt in a long time. That was how I died.

Peacefully.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Hey, Had some trouble uploading, no matter which chapter I uploaded, FF would only make Chapter 5 appear.**_

**Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson.**

**Artemis' POV**

One second, I heard the creature clap, and the next, a wall of water had risen in front of Perseus and a... drakon beast? What in Hades was happening? Where was the minotaur beast?

Blades slammed into the wall of water, and got trapped in the liquid shield. My heart stopped as a heart wrenching scream rent the air. The wall of water dropped, revealing Perseus on the ground, engulfed in green flames. Without thinking, I dashed forward, wanting to help him, but I ran onto a wave of pure force. Seeing Thalia and Nico do the same, I realized that this was the work of Kronos.

This was what he wanted all along. Percy had angered him, so he had trapped him with this creature in a ring of pure force to be killed in front of his friends and former friends.

I saw Riptide shatter and pieces bury itself in Perseus' body. I slammed into the wall of force, shrieking. There had to be a way to get to him!

Then something exploded in the wall of force, just as the walls disappeared. I rushed forward, and sulphur hit me dead on. I didn't notice. All that mattered was getting to Perseus.

"PERSEUS!" I screamed. Where was he?

"He's probably dead. The greek fire would have burned him alive, and if it didn't his own sword would have killed him." A nonchalant voice said. "Nothing to see here, everyone. Just a deserter getting what he deserves for trying to let hellhounds into Camp. Let's get back to Camp."

I whirled around. It was the Poseidon boy. He was turning back to camp, and commanding the others to do the same, while he stayed behind. I was about to turn him into a pig when Thalia called for me.

"My lady." She said, her eyes welling up with tears. "We can't find him."

I turned around again, seeing all my hunters gathered around her, searching for Perseus.

Hades' child handed her a tissue and offered her a weak smile. Nico, I think his name was. He turned to look at me, and I saw he was fighting back tears.

"Lady Artemis. We have to tell your father. Searching for Perseus is important, but Kronos is rising, and we need to warn the Olympians." He said.

My hunters looked at me questioningly. Although it wrenched my heart, I knew he was right. I would come back here later, I promised Perseus. Clearing my throat, I prepared to speak.

"You- you are correct."

"I'll go too." He said, nodding at Thalia.

"Do as you please."

I turned away, gathered my will, and started leading my hunters to Olympus, as the campers followed that scum back to the camp.

**Percy's POV**

SLAP. SLAP. SLAP. SLAP.

Someone was slapping me repeatedly. I tried to ignore it, but whoever it was just kept right on slapping.

"Uuughhhhh." I grunted.

The slapping continued.

"Come on now, Perseus. You have had your time to sleep."

"Fiiiiiiiiivve moooore miiiiinuuuuuuuutes."

The slaps were starting to sting.

"I think both of us know you will say the same thing in five minutes time."

"Uuuuunnngggggghhhhh." I said, sitting up. I rubbed my eyes. I was in a hotel, lying on a bed. A teenager sat next to me. "Whaa-aaat?"

The teenager raised an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"My eyes cleared, and almost all the blurs went away. I looked at the teenager. He wore a simple grey shirt covered by a black long sleeved jacket with rolled up sleeves. A pair of black cargo pants covered his legs, and he completed the look with black boots. He had jet black hair, and was my height. But the way you could tell he was not mortal by his eyes. They seemed older than the rest of his body. They looked as if they had seen horrible things that no teenager had. They looked like normal human's, but this is where all similarity stopped. His iris colours were red. A red that glowed so brightly, it was almost pink. They shone, and outlined his pupils. Where a human's eyeballs were white, his was black.

I jerked back in shock.

"I am not going to eat you, Perseus."

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"You know me by Chaos," He said, winking.

"And I know almost everything." He continued, lying down on the bed with his hands crossed behind his head.

"I- Wha-" I stuttered.

He got off the bed and stood up, cut me off smoothly with a wave of his hand, and started speaking.

"Let me do the talking, Perseus Jackson."

"You are not dead. You went into a coma."

Then it all came back. My exile, Artemis, Nico, Dylan, Annabeth, Thalia, the monster and-

"Kronos!" I yelled. "He killed me!"

Chaos rolled his eyes, like I wasn't listening to him.

"Cry me a river."

" I need to get to Olympus!" I shouted, jumping out of bed.

"I need to –AAAARRRGGHHH!" Whit hot pain shot through my body, and I fell on the floor.

"I was going to tell you to take it slow, but you just love not listening to me, do you not?"

He said, in a chiding voice.

I lifted up my shirt. White scars marked the areas where Riptide had sunk into me.

"Do not feel bad. Those scars tell of what you have done, and not what you did not do. Do not worry about them marring your body too. I heard a particular moon goddess likes scars." He spoke, winking, and cracking a smile.

I flushed.

"Now you will listen, and listen well. Kronos is rising, with the power of a metal mineral that belongs to me. You will take it from him after you defeat him, and return it to me."

"Why can't you do that yourself? You're the most powerful being in the galaxy!"

"Because, Jackson, because, because ,because," he said, gesticulating with his hands,

" Kronos is simply a test for what I am giving you. I have seen the monsters that Gaea is trying to awaken. With the Olympians' current army, they will be destroyed. Typhon was not the only one of his kind. He was just the first to awaken. His older, stronger brothers still rest under the Earth, snoring away, hidden by Gaea as she tries to wake them up."

I kept quiet, my mind going into overdrive with these new pieces of information.

"Don't fret. I will train you to take them down, while Zeus' other legions fight Gaea's main army."

I thought of what would happen if I said no. A sudden image of Typhon-like creatures defeating Artemis appeared in my mind.

"Why don't we start now?" I asked.

Nobody touches Artemis, I told myself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, sorry for the last chapter. There was some technical problems. It might get a bit boring, but the next chapter will be better. That's a promise!**

**Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson.**

**Percy's POV**

I stared at the full moon as it shone brightly in the night sky. I was sitting on a cliff, dangling my legs over the edge. The sea below glowed a bright blue from the moonlight. The moon tonight was so big, you could make out its craters really easily. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sound of the waves hitting the cliff below.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A voice beside me said.

"Yup." I said, opening my eyes, and knowing what I would see.

Chaos sat to my right, and his red eyes seemed to glaze over as he saw what I was seeing. He shook it away, then turned to look at me.

"You know that the moon affects the tides, right? They have a reeeeeaaaaaaaally strong attraction." he said, smiling.

"Cut it out."

"Running away from it is not going to make it stop."

He did have a point.

"What should I do then? Confess my feelings to a maiden moon goddess who has sworn off marriage?" I said, emphasising the word maiden.

"Do you still have feelings for Annabeth?"

It was weird talking to a god who I had known only for a day, but had known me my whole life.

I thought about his question. "No." I answered.

I had loved Annabeth, but these few months while I was on the run, I realized that I did not love her as much as the Artemis, who had been searching for me, and leaving bags of food everywhere she went to ensure I still had food.

"Then I think you already know what to do."

I groaned. Chaos knew too much for his own good. His youthful face almost glowed in the moonlight, even though he was way older than the Olympians. My ADHD made me blurt a question out before I could stop myself.

"Why do you appear as a teenager?" I asked him.

"Why the sudden interest?" he asked, still looking at the moon, but listening.

"All the gods on Olympus appear as middle aged men, or adults, but you, you appear like a teenager, instead of like, a wise old man or something."

There was a pause.

"Interesting question, Perseus." He said, smiling.

" As you get older, decisions and expectations fall on your shoulders. The older and more powerful you are, the heavier they weigh upon your back. Very soon, they get so heavy, you realise that your view and take of the world is different. When you are young, the world seems so bright, big, full of wonder, magic, and adventure. But the older you get, the more the brightness starts dimming, and the world shrinking, and it shows you a new face, a face full of cruelty, sadness, suffering and misery."

He rested his sad gaze on me.

"The same thing happens to the galaxy, the darkness before everything began, and to the lives of gods too. I cannot be a child, to abandon my important responsibilities, but being a teenager suits me. I bear some responsibility, and at the same time, I am reminded of the light and wonder of the galaxies."

His sad expression turned into a sad smile. I didn't know what to say. I had expected a very shallow answer, but it seemed Chaos had more to him.

His sad expression was quickly replaced by a stern one.

"Now, on to more pressing issues. Did you think you learned much today?"

Definitely, I thought. Chaos had seen my style of fighting, and wanted to make adjustments. I used brute force, swordsmanship, and a bit of agility to fight, but Chaos had showed me that I needed a different style against bigger, stronger opponents.

I had initially refused learning a new style, as I liked my current one. Chaos rolled his eyes and flashed me to the sea. We were standing on the Pacific ocean's coral when a three sharks and a killer whale swam to me. Then I realised that they weren't. Chaos had summoned them, and I could hear their conversation.

"Chaos want Sharkies to fight sea god son?" one of the sharks were asking, and all the sea creatures looked scared.

"But we hurt sea god's son, Poseidon will-" one of the sharks started, but Chaos cut him off.

"Poseidon wouldn't know, and if he does, I'll have a chat with him. Besides, I'm sure Perseus had polluted the sea sometime before and probably littered too." he said, winking.

Suddenly, I realised the mood of the sea creatures changed at the words 'littered', 'polluted' and 'sea'. The scared atmosphere was gone, replaced by an angry one.

"Sea God's son litter sea?!" I heard the killer whale yell.

As the sharks mumbled something like "Teach polluting sea god son a lesson."

Uh oh. I had to fight an angry killer whale, and three angry sharks. All of them mumbling and rearing to go at me.

"Uh, Chaos, maybe this isn't such a goo-" I squeaked.

"Okay, go! Don't hurt him too much!"

Needless to say, with a stronger killer whale and three sharks attacking me, I couldn't win. They dodged my whirlpools and currents, and headbutted me. Have you ever got headbutted by a killer whale? It feels like getting hit by a truck. At the end of the Beat-the-crap-out-of-polluting-sea-god session, Chaos had to make them promise not to say a word about totally beating the snot out of me. On the bright side, after they beat me up, I gained four more friends.

I smiled at Chaos. "Yes. Yes. Thank you."


	8. Chapter 8

**What up! WinterJay here, and I present my peace offering for the technical difficulties and stuff. I never was good at writing romance, so I really do need some tips on how to do it from time to time. I hope this fulfills my promise from the last chapter! Happy new year! And... ENJOY!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON, BUT I CAN MAKE HIM DO STUPID THINGS IN THIS STORY.**

**Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos**

**Chaos' POV**

Perseus had improved a lot in a week since I had taken him in. After the third day, he was already doing well. On the fourth day, I had given him a bit of my power, and trained him. I had made it clear to him that my power was different, and that he was to be cautious with it, as well as take training seriously. He had obeyed all this, to my surprise. He had my power, but only an infinitesimal small, tiny fraction of it. He was still mortal, still vulnerable to death's clutches. It was on the day after that that Perseus had realised that the Achilles curse was gone, wiped away by my power.

**Percy's POV**

I was truly shagged. Chaos had capitalized on my every mistake, and made sure I felt pain every time I screwed up a little, tiny piece of my training. Every bit of my body ached.

"It is time for you to go back for a bit and rest. Go wherever you want. Just don't talk to anyone."

"I'll keep a shield around you to make sure the gods don't find you, but don't find trouble all the same, Perseus Jackson. I will come for you in a week."

"I don't find trouble, trouble finds-"

I was talking to nobody. From a desert in Africa, where we were training, I was now alone, staring at the borders of Camp Half Blood in the night. Jerk. He knew I hated this place! Turning around, and running so that border patrol would not see me, I ran over a bag of supplies. Four days of training with the most powerful god of the universe and the first thing that trips me isn't even alive. Go figure.

I opened the bag. A bag of food and money filled up the bag. Who would leave- mystery solved. A note from Chaos was tucked in the front compartment. I read it. _You might want to run from the moonlight. Quickly. Yours truly._ What the Hades was THAT supposed to mean? Maybe living so long HAD dislodged the old god's brains after all. Chuckling, I walked off in the opposite direction of where Camp Half Blood was. As I walked, I realized I was very tempted to search for Artemis.

**Chaos' POV**

I felt Artemis break the shield I had made around Perseus. Looking through a portal, I saw her send him flying. Woah. I broke the portal, looking away. I did warn him. The goddess was more powerful than I thought. I had not intended for her to find him. Shrugging, I felt sorry for Perseus. It was the women with spunk you needed to watch out for. _Well_, I thought as I teleported to another world, _best to leave the two lovebirds at it._

**Artemis' POV**

I stared at the hunters, all sleeping in their tents. Everything was peaceful and quiet. The meeting with Zeus triggered a search for other monsters, but I had chosen not to go, camping near the demigod's camp to look for any signs of Perseus. He could not be dead, Hades had checked his realm. Even after dragging Apollo into my search it proved fruitless. And, yet again no sign of Perseus.

A tingle went down my back. The moon revealed an moving white dome that hid something within it. Using the moon's power, I lashed out at it, shattering the dome. Then I saw what it was hiding. PERSEUS. Sprinting, I headed to where he was.

**Percy's POV**

I was just about to bite into an apple when I felt someone hit me in my gut, HARD. I went flying. I had about a minute's air time before I hit the floor. I landed on the grass face up, HARDER. Somewhere during my flight time, my bag had flown off of me and the apple was knocked out of my hand. The impact had me seeing stars. Slamming me back into the ground, my attacker pinned me. Soft hands pinned mine to the ground, and an equally soft body pressed down on me, making breathing hard.

"Perseus Jackson. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" I heard a very sexy, angry voice yell, right in front of my face.

"N-no-no hablo ingles?" I squeaked.

Then training kicked in. I really wanted to stay with Artemis, but right now, she seemed really angry. Besides, Chaos would have my ass for this.

I slipped out from under her body and tripped her, quickly opening a portal to somewhere far, far away from here. I turned, prepared to jump in.

I had to apologize first. I couldn't bear to look at her, so I kept my back to her, feeling really terrible. With my back still turned, to her I said:

"I am so, so , so sorry Artemi-"

THWACK.

An arrow thudded into my back, and the world started to spin. The portal closed, as my concentration faded.

"Can't have you running away again, Perseus." Artemis said, in a very seductive and playful voice.

I wheeled around, struggling to keep my balance. A grinning Artemis slowly put away her bow as she made her way towards me.

"Don't worry, Perseus. It's just a sleeping potion. You can't run anymore."

"Tha- that's chea- cheating." I said, as the world kept spinning faster and faster.

If I could, I would have shivered, but I was on the ground, even though the world was still doing full 360s on me.

Honestly, I actually felt a little happy that she'd captured me.

"Just close your eyes and relax."

"UUuugghhhhh." I couldn't speak anymore.

I felt her pick me up and throw me over her shoulder, and the world blacked out.

When I did wake up, I was tied to a pillar near a wall in a cold, small stone room. The fire crackled in the fireplace in the wall opposite me , providing some heat. Sitting on the carpet in front of it, with her back to the fireplace and her body facing me, was a particular moon goddess with smouldering, silver eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

**_What up, it's WinterJay! Okay, first off, I wanna thank all of you who have reviewed and favorited, it means a lot, and I feel touched, right here in my heart. Okay, I might be exaggerating, but it does mean a lot, seriously. Secondly, school here in Singapore is about to start, so I won't be able to write as much anymore. But here's a supersized chapter to cheer you up! *Imaginary audience cheers, claps and screams* Next, I wanna tell Gh0sst that your idea to speed the confessing part was awesome, but I think that no matter how headstrong Artemis and Perseus are, they are still kinda shaky around romance and love and all that. I HAVEN'T READ HoO, SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT ANNABETH AND PERSEUS DO, SORRY! My knowledge on them is kind of limited to PJO. Lastly, ENJOY!_  
**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON. **

**OR DO I? *INCEPTION THEME STONG STARTS PLAYING***

**Percy Jackson, Wielder of Chaos**

**Percy's POV**

My head throbbed as if a thousand elephants were having some jumping festival inside it.

"Uh, Artemis, what did you knock me out with?"

Reaching to her left, but never taking her eyes off me, she grabbed a bottle similar to the ones I saw at Circe's island, and glanced at its label.

"Let's see, drakon tranquilizer." she read, her voice completely neutral.

My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped.

"Instructions. Dip arrow tips into bottle and fire at drakon, dose varies with drakon size, increase dose depending on the size of the drakon."

She glanced at my horrified face, then continued reading.

"Do not administer to any other species, potentially lethal to smaller animals. Circe is not responsible for any accidental or intentional injuries, deaths or accidents. Keep away from children." she finished, looking back at me.

I laughed weakly. "You're kidding ,right?"

Getting up slowly, she walked over and showed me the label. Everything she had just read was printed on it.

"Potentially lethal to smaller animals!?"

"I used quite a small dose on you." She shrugged.

"You could have killed me!"

"You tripped me and tried to get away. I only did what I could to make sure that a guilty Poseidon could see his son again." A smile was spreading on her face.

Father. Ever since he had dropped me out of Olympus (literally), I had not given him much thought.

"Poseidon wants to see me?"

"Yes, and I will bring you to him in a fortnight. Now, they are busy with a different matter."

"What matter?" I asked. What could be more important than reconciling with me, a son he wrongfully punished?

"Hades has went missing. He does not answer his summons, and Iris messages to him just show darkness. He also did not attend an Olympian meeting Zeus had called."

"Is Kronos involved in this?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"We can't be too sure. Even if Kronos has escaped Tartarus somehow, he is too weak to do much."

I frowned, taking in all this new information.

"Uh, by the way, Artemis, thanks for telling me all this. I really appreciate you helping me with when I was running away and all." I remembered her note in one of the supplies she left me while I was on the run. _Perseus, come back to us. If you require help, my hunters and I will be there for you. Also, just calling me Artemis will do. I think you have earned the right._

Artemis looked away, like she was thinking. Then she turned around. "I was concerned about you."

Staring at me, she continued.

"So I think I have the right to know where you've been."

I felt really ,really bad about having to deny her that right her. If my mother was watching me, I bet she would have wrinkled her nose and glared at me. "You know, just travelling around the world, hitchhiking and all that."

"None of the supplies in your bag are eaten. Your bag is new, and shows no sign of wear and tear. " Artemis said, raising her eyebrow as if to say _YEEEAAHHH_ _RIIIIGHHHTTT._

"I take good care of my things?" I offered, with a weak grin.

Artemis took something out of the bag, and started reading it.

"You might want to run from the moonlight. Quickly. Yours truly."

Oh. Shit.

She let the note slip from her fingers and fall to the floor. Slowly, she looked up again. The fire started flickering, and shadow obscured parts of her face, giving it a very menacing look. It did not help that her eyes were flashing with a hostile look.

_Chaos, save me._

"Who wrote this note, Perseus?" Her voice had taken on a strangled note.

Uh oh.

"Jason Grace from the roman camp." I said, weakly.

Artemis studied me.

Then her face brightened and she smiled. For a second, I thought she believed me. It was a wonderful second of bliss.

Then she started speaking.

"I'll find out soon, Perseus. In fact, I have an entire fortnight to do so." She said, her voice getting more lively.

"I gave a report to the gods while you were unconscious. Since Dionysus did not want you back at Camp Half Blood, I took the liberty of taking you into my care." Her smile was getting bigger.

"Wait! Thanks but no-" I was cut off by what she said next.

"I was given strict orders to care for you like one of my hunters. You are to work with them, and for them."

Horror crawled into my body, freezing my already tied limbs and stopping my breathing.

"I was also told to use any means necessary to keep you here."

She said, winking at me, while gesturing at the bottle of drakon tranquilizer with her foot.

I abandoned all dignity and let horror show on my face.

Her expression was suddenly very catlike. She walked right up to me and placed her head beside mine. I could feel her lips touch my ear. I shivered, but not because of the cold.

"And all my hunters have an arrow tainted with drakon tranquilizer."

I gasped as she walked to the door. She placed a hand on the door. Turning around, but still keeping a hand on the handle, she smiled.

"I'm going to tell the hunters to gather. When I come back, I'll get you free so I can introduce them to you."

Winking, she went out the door. The noise from the door echoed in the small room with a thud of finality.

I looked at the ropes restricting me. This was not happening. I started struggling against my bonds, using every bit of strength in my body.

It was no use. The ropes did not give an inch.

Chaos was so going to thrash me for this. Memories of Chaos putting me in situations of extreme terror flashed one after another like some terrifying slideshow. Chaos watching me sink into quicksand, laughing his arse off, while I screamed at him at the top of my lungs to save me. Chaos flashing me to the top of the Eiffel tower, naked. After ten more minutes of agony and suspense, Artemis opened the door again.

"Perseus! Missed me?" she chuckled.

"Please let me go." I said, giving her my best puppy dog face.

"No." She said cheerfully.

"It's time for you to meet my hunters."

A knife appeared in her left hand. Then, it disappeared. A second later, my bonds fell to the floor. _I hadn't even seen her hand move. _Artemis' speed was frightening.

"Come on, Perseus."

Grabbing my ear, flashed me to the outskirts of the hunter's camp. The day was ending, and the skies glowed orange as the sun set. I tried to put up a strong front by not letting myself yelp every time Artemis took a turn and wrenched my ear. Was it just me, or was she taking the route with the most turns?

She pulled me to the middle of the camp, at a fireplace, where all the hunters had set up their tents around, but making sure to leave some space so that people could still sit around the fire. All the hunters were already gathered there, some with their bows, some looking as if they were just sitting around. This must be their break time, I thought. Then, through the crowd, I made out a familiar figure. Thalia. She wagged a finger at me, as if I had been a naughty boy. Judging by how Artemis was pulling me by the ear, that was how I looked. Finally, when we reached the fireplace, she let go of my ear. I stopped myself from trying to clutch my red ear in my hand. All the hunters were looking at us. None of the hunters were looking at me with hatred or dislike, just curiosity. Weird.

"Hunters." Artemis began.

"We have a guest in our midst. Some of you might be acquainted with Perseus Jackson, who was with Zoe and Bianca on a quest to me."

Some of the hunters regarded me with interest, others with apprehension.

"He has been rejected by Camp Half Blood, and does not have a place to stay. As such, I have offered him a place in our ranks, in exchange for his service and labour," I was about to say that I did not agree to anything, when her next sentence stopped me in my tracks.

"All agreed to by his father, who spoke on his behalf." She turned to me with a practically evil smile.

_Father , why are you doing this to me?_

I sort of understood why. He wanted me to have a place to stay where someone could monitor me, but really? The hunters of Artemis? Really? Of all the bad things I had done in my life, I SO did not deserve this.

"Perseus here, will stay in this tent," Artemis gestured at a black tent, sticking out like a sore thumb from all the other silver tents. "And he will do ANYTHING that you request him to do." Said Artemis, emphasizing the word 'anything'.

All the stoic faces of the hunters started turning into cruel, evil expressions, just like Artemis'. Why was she doing this to me? Why was she so desperate to get me to say who had written the note?

Still smiling evilly, she finished her speech with a sentence.

"My hunters and I wish you a happy stay here, Perseus, your belongings are already in your tent."

"You can start your chores in an hour." Giving me one last smile and a wink, she walked away.

I started walking to my tent in dejection. Someone tapped my shoulder, zapping me. I jumped, and then turned around.

"Percy! You're alive!"

Thalia got me in a bear hug, knocking the air out of me.

She pulled me into my tent, and I was surprised to see the bag Chaos had given me sitting there.

Sitting down in the surprisingly silver glow that the inside of the tent emitted, she started talking.

"So... You got Artemis pretty worked up with your disappearing and dying acts, kelp head."

I ignored her, and started going through my backpack, trying to see if the note was there.

It wasn't.

Suddenly, I heard Thalia sniggering for no reason.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked her, turning in her direction.

"You trying to make moves on Artemis now that her oath has been retaken?"

I gaped at her.

Her eyes widened.

"You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"I keep forgetting you disappeared." She said, sniggering.

"Ever since the Callisto incident, Artemis has been guilty and wondering whether to allow the hunters to have relationships with men. After your disappearance, Zeus asked her about it and after doing a vote, Artemis and all of us retook our oaths. We can date now, although if we do get married, our partner will have to join the hunt. Most of the hunters here aren't really into it, though."

She glanced up, looking at me with a crooked smile.

"No mortal was good enough for you, eh , Perseus, you just had to go after the big fish." She said, wriggling her eyebrows mischieviously.

Thank the gods I had the perfect counter.

"The only fish I see being chased is Nico, but not by me," I said, smirking.

"By a certain lieutenant hunter of-"

"Okay, that's enough." She said, cutting me off.

"I better not waste your energy. You have got a lot of work to do later." She said, with a catlike smile that looked just like Artemis', and stood up. Did Artemis teach her hunters how to smile evilly like her too?

"I'm going to make sure of it." She said, strutting out of my tent.

An hour later, I had dressed in a black outfit that Chaos had given in the supplies bag.

I went to the fireplace. My heart fell. Hunters were lining up, ready to tell me what they wanted me to do. It was a disaster. In the crowd, I saw Artemis give me another catlike smile.

_Ready to tell me who wrote you the note?_

Artemis' voice in my mind asked.

I stuck my tongue out at her. She disappeared into her tent, smiling.

_Very well. I hope you are full of energy, Perseus._

Looking at the hunters, I realised it was going to be a very long night.

_Please come and fetch me quick, Chaos, I beg you._

**A FEW DAYS BEFORE**

**Hades' POV**

_Why had Thanatos called me? Now of all times? He was just about to head to Olympus for the meeting Zeus had called when Thanatos had called for me through an Iris message, begging me to come._

_Hades reached Thanatos' usual haunt, the spot outside the doors of death._

_Frowning, he looked around. There was nobody here. Was this some sort of joke? Where was Thanatos?_

_There. Behind a boulder, a pair of feet stuck out. Peering behind the boulder, he reeled back in shock._

_Thanatos was in a bad shape. He was pale, thin and shivering, hands scrabbling at his chest as if trying to tear something out. His eyes widened when he saw Hades. _

"_No. You must go. Flee!"_

_Hades frowned. What was he raving about?_

"_Sit down, son, and let me teach you a lesson." A raspy voice snarled._

_Hades turned, but he was too late. Just as it had felled Thanatos, the scythe plowed into his chest, and he collapsed as Kronos immediately started draining his essence._

**Kronos' POV**

_Kronos smiled. All he had to do now was get rid of Persephone and Demeter, and the Underworld would be his for the taking._

_Feeling Hades pass out, he flashed to find the two goddesses. _


	10. Chapter 10

**_Hey, guys! I've been preeeeetty busy lately so my writing was hindered a lot. Nevertheless, here's a chapter for ya. If it's boring, I'm sorry, but the next chapter's gonna finally hit the main storyline, so it's gonna be waaaaaaayyyy better! Many thanks to awesome person, .5, Anaklusmos14, Lmb111514, and everyone else for your heartening reviews! Thanks to all the others who have favourited/ followed as well! It really boosts morale! So thanks for that! Now, on to the story! _**

**Chapter 10**

**Percy's POV**

It's been six days since I became enslaved (I might be exaggerating, but it feels like it) to the hunters, and in that time, Artemis has gotten colder. More distant. Nowadays, she vanishes abruptly, only to reappear when the everyone is about to go to sleep. I glanced about. Right now, everyone was. Thank the gods! My entire body ached from doing all those chores. Life was hell. The chores they gave me were fairly simple, but the sheer number of times I had to do it was torture. Now, you might be thinking this: "But, Percy, if Artemis is gone and everyone is asleep, why don't you make a run for it with your black portals?"

Thing is, Artemis told the hunters of my black portal thing, so the moment I try something funny, a nice silver arrow kisses me on my back, sending me straight to lalaland. Well, I tried two days before. I saw nobody. Like, nobody at all awake. The camp was quiet. All was well. So I did what any enslaved son of Poseidon would do. I made a run for it. I concentrated, and a black doorway appeared in front of me, in a clearing. Then, I realised that the wolves had looked up, apparently able to sense power. Before I could shut them up, one of them went up on his hind legs and howled like there there was no tomorrow. Stinking animals. I looked around, running faster than Grover when he played tag with Tyson's Cyclops friends to the portal. Right on cue, a silver arrow flew from inside one of the tents- yes, inside the tent. Who in Hades brings a bow to sleep?- and hit my right arm, spot on. I went down running. After waking up from a dream consisting of drakons grooving at some disco and Harry Potter making out with Dumbledore (DO NOT judge me. Drakon tranquilizer does things to your brain.) , I looked around my tent, realising that it was cramped some thousand tonnes of laundry left for me to do.

There was nobody I could see awake tonight, but the wolves, who looked like they were sleeping, were smiling like they were saying: "Go, Perseus, go! Make a run for it! We're really sleeping! Make a magic portal and run! ". I stuck my tongue at them. I was so not falling for that again.

Suddenly, I sensed something. I jumped up, uncapping Riptide. The wolves twitched their ears. Spinning around, I found the source of the disruption. A spot high up in the night air was getting darker, denser, and heavier, gathering into a sphere. It suddenly imploded, and Chaos, in his nineteen year old form jumped out of it and landed lightly on the ground.

I fell on my knees and took up a begging position. "Get me out of here, please." I begged Chaos.

Chaos looked down with a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.

"Perseus! You had a fun time, I hope!"

I gave him my best horrified look.

"You KNOW what they did to me! I know you were watching! This is nothing to joke about!"

Chaos chuckled.

"I especially liked the part where the wolves totally -"

He saw my expression.

"Get me out of here, please." I pleaded.

Giving another chuckle, he raised his eyebrow and smiled.

"I'm afraid not, Perseus, we have company."

Turning to the full moon, he smiled and said: "Artemis! There is no need to watch from a distance! Come over and let's have ourselves a little chat.

The light of the moon wavered, as the space rock was scrutinizing us closely. A second later, it turned back to normal again.

It took me a second to realise why Chaos had talked to the moon. My jaw dropped.

Pointing at the moon, I gaped at Chaos. "She can- She can-."

"Yes, Perseus. I was quite surprised. These things don't normally escape me, but there has been a huge leap in Artemis' power." A frown formed on his teenage face, as it was something bad.

I didn't have time to think about it, though, because a moment later, a shining silver figure formed behind us, and Artemis appeared, radiating a stronger aura of silver and power than when she last disappeared.

Despite her strong appearance, her expression appeared tired, but curious and wary. Was it just me or did it seem like every time she vanished, she seemed to get more and more tired.

Walking over, she gave me a sweeping glance, before turning to Chaos.

Arching her eyebrow, she asked the one million dollar question. Or, one million drachma question. Never mind.

"Who are you?"

I saw Chaos' red black eyes look into her silver ones, and Artemis jerked back, as if she had just witnessed Apollo swearing off girls. I would have been funny if it wasn't so serious.

She must have been treated to Chaos' identity 101 mentally. Her eyes widened, then a fleeting look of... _triumph _crossed her face.

Chaos must have seen it too, because his eyes darkened. Uh oh. Something was going on here, and I needed to know what. I made a mental note to ask him later.

Artemis, by this time, had managed to put her poker face on. She was about to do a bow, but Chaos stopped her by nodding his head.

"None of that, please."

She hesitated, then relaxed.

"I trust you are responsible for his miraculous recovery and subsequent disappearance?" She asked, shooting me a look.

Woah. She was fast at putting this together.

"My apologies, if I have caused you any despair, but I had some business with Perseus that required attending to." Chaos said silkily, emphasizing the words 'you' and 'despair'.

Artemis tried doing the poker face, but you could still see her cheeks redden. Heat flowed to my cheeks too, and I turned away to hide them.

Artemis did that regal hair toss that a princess would have done. God, she looked downright gorgeous.

Putting her act together, she started speaking to Chaos again, whose eyes were piercing into her, as if he was looking for something, sort of like a lighthouse's searchlight looking for a ship. He definitely wasn't looking at her the way I was. Hades! I was too testosterone filled for my own good. Then I remembered what Artemis did to testosterone filled males. I brushed the imaginary terrified jumping jackalopes out of my mind just as Artemis began speaking.

"It is not my intention to offend you, but I was to care for the boy until his meeting with the Olympians in a week, but the meeting was cancelled. I am still responsible for him until they decide to bring this matter up."

My mouth dropped, and all my strength vanished.

"What?" I squeaked out, but it came out so soft it sounded like I was trying to squeak like some mouse. Both gods ignored me.

Chaos looked like he already knew, and he had belted out his solution .

"And I still have business to attend to with the boy. Perhaps, we alternate care of the boy each week? You do it one week, and the subsequent week I take over, and we repeat from there."

My already horrified face twisted into a look of disbelief. I looked at Chaos.

He looked calm and cool, like he and Artemis were taking turns bringing me to the bird park. Not like he was giving me body breaking training and Artemis was out to work me to death.

"That could work. However, I would require you to return him before the end of the seventh day."

Artemis' reply was a sign that my personal hell was about to begin.

"It's a done deal."

Before I could stop them, Artemis and Chaos shook hands on it, and it was finished. My fate was sealed.

Chaos retracted his hand, then twisted in my direction.

"Well Percy, best make a move, don't want to keep your guardian waiting. See you in a week!"

He said, laughing to himself, creating a black portal to his left. I measured the distance between the portal and me. After Chaos' training, my speed had improved immensely. I could move as fast as a cheetah, but only for a few seconds, and the cost of almost all my energy. Six metres. I could reach it quick with a running start and a lunge.

I lunged. Something sharp and painful jabbed into my side. Suddenly, I was looking at the night sky as a colourful kaleidoscope of images started revolving in my head. A familiar sensation crept through my body, putting me to sleep. What in Hades-?

Chaos stifled a laugh and then saw me looking at him. He pretended not to notice me and stepped into the portal, promptly disappearing. One day, I will have my revenge on him for the all things he has done to me.

Then I realised that he lilting, giggly, musical sound I was hearing was actually a laugh.

A pair of hands lifted me and lifted me.

"Here we go again, Perseus Jackson." A laughing Artemis whispered into my ear.

I managed to curse whoever made the drakon tranquilizer before it knocked me out cold.

This time I woke up in my tent. No, I wasn't tied up. Sounds of battle raged all around me. Instinct took over. I immediately changed into a black cotton shirt Chaos had so kindly teleported into my backpack while I was out. It was like the shirts from camp Half Blood, except it was black and had no words printed on it.

I scoffed. He probably thought this made up for everything he did. It was the only shirt that I had which did not have holes made by arrows, stains from doing chores or had one half in rags, so I had no choice but to wear it, no matter how much I wanted to burn it. The urge to burn it vanished when I put it on. The black shirt had turned into some sort of black liquid armour, shrinking to fit my size, and clung to my skin. The liquid metal felt cool against my body. It didn't cover my pants, though so I had to use my own cargo pants.

Then I saw something else leaning on the silver cloth of the tent. It was a honest-to-god lightsaber hilt. Its silvery surface gleamed in the light of the tent. I picked it up. Inscribed on it were two words. Imagine greater. I realised what Chaos meant. This was flashy, but I was not used to it. I closed my eyes, concentrating hard. I felt the lightsaber change form, and when I opened my eyes, a modified Riptide sat in my palm, shining gold. The two inscripted words were gone.

This SO made up for everything. Making a mental note to try out lightsaber mode later, I jumped out of my tent... and almost got impaled by a stray, thrown spear. I jerked back in surprise as I noticed two important things. One, we were right at the borders of Camp half blood. The second was that all around me, hunters and campers were fighting all sorts of monsters, which were surrounding both camps. You name a monster, it was there. Hydras, cyclopes, hellhounds, and many more.

Oh boy. This was one hell of a ruckus.


	11. The riddle of gods

**CHAPTER 11: **_**THE RIDDLE OF GODS**_

**Whassup guys, I was on a short hiatus. Things to do and all. Now, replies:**

**Blitzing Riptide: I sure hope it does.  
****jazzybizzlerocks: Thanks!  
Lmb111514: Thank you! Yes, he should. Being a pawn in someone's game makes you feel pretty used.  
splendid123456789: Thanks! She seems to me as a bit playful in the books, and the type to take what she wants. So I thought I would emphasize on those parts because they weren't seen much in PJO. **

**Well, with nothing further to bother you about, let the story begin!**

**Hang on... No, people, I do not own Percy Jackson. If I did, the titles of the books would be much more interesting.**

_I jerked back in surprise as I noticed two important things. One, we were right at the borders of Camp half blood. The second was that all around me, hunters and campers were fighting all sorts of monsters, which were surrounding both camps. You name a monster, it was there. Hydras, cyclopes, hellhounds, and many more._

_Oh boy. This was one hell of a ruckus._

Chaos' POV

Chaos was troubled. He was used to the feeling. Powerful, immortal enemies and never ending fights did that to you. It was a mystery to him, how Artemis had gotten so strong. It was troubling that he had not been aware of her jump in power. Then there was the matter of how strong Perseus was now. Perseus was ready, he felt. Without the boy's knowledge, he had altered time during his training. Percy was only training with him for a week, but he had actually been training for years. Seven years, in fact. Now, all that was holding the demigod back was his old personality. In order to shield the boy all the trauma he was experiencing, he, Chaos, had changed the hero's head a tiny bit to dampen the anguish and pain of losing his parents and being exiled from Olympus by his own father. Now, he felt the boy had the strength to keep moving forward. But to regain his old self the boy would have to search for it himself.

Suddenly, his heart constricted. He felt his breath catch. Someone powerful was headed toward the boy. He tried to look at the aura, but someone was blocking him, obscuring his view of the owner of the aura. He knew through past experiences that no matter how much he tried, he would not be able to see. Stronger than a regular Olympian champion, with a power that rivalled Zeus himself, the person holding it was charging toward Perseus like a freight train. Whatever it was, he recognized its aura immediately. He had felt traces of it cling to Artemis, almost too little to notice, but he did. He had been seeking it for the longest time. It's true owner had finally made a move. Quickly, he gave some power to Perseus. He would need it. The strongest god in greek mythology had finally shown his hand.

Percy's POV

Going into battle mode, I took a quick sweep of my surroundings. Thalia and the hunters were making a circle around the hunter's camp, trying desperately to keep the monsters at bay. She had made a lightning storm and was striking as many monsters as she could while she used her spear. Her fellow hunters took out the monsters she missed with their bows, arrows and knives. Some wolves were at their sides, reinforcing certain parts of the circle. Despite their progress, any novice fighter could see they were about to be overrun. There were just too many monsters. Camp Half Blood wasn't doing any better, either. Even with the barrier to protect them, the sheer number of monsters must have weakened the barrier, so although monsters were kept at bay, some managed to break through, giving the campers guarding the borders a bad time. I could see Nico inside, fighting. He had raised some undead, and although they disposed of some monsters, there were many more to kill. From how pale his face was, I could tell Nico couldn't raise anymore.

I jumped beside Thalia, reinforcing the position on her right. She nodded toward me in gratitude. Quickly, I asked her the question that had been bugging me since I had woken up.

"Thalia! Where is Artemis? We could really use some god power on our side."

"She's taking care of their boss, Percy." She said, not looking at me. She frowned, and another lightning bolt hit a cyclops and his friends, frying them alive.

Hades! She was getting scary!

"Where are they?"

"She lured him somewhere else to fight." She groaned, her overuse of powers starting to take its toll on her.

Then, I noticed something. Some of the campers and hunters were getting distracted, like something was bothering them. A camper shook his head as if to clear it, and almost paid for it when an empousa almost took his arm off with her claws. They were fighting, but frowning like something was in their head, taking their attention away bit by bit. Instantly, I knew this was the work of a god.

I relaxed, and made myself feel for energy. I found a tendril of energy and quickly latched on to it, following it right to its source. It was an oak, close enough to see the battle, but far enough to avoid it. Riptide carved a path of death through the demons to a tree near Camp Half Blood. Strangely, monsters saw me but refused to go near the oak. I looked around the oak, Riptide in hand.

And that was when I saw the most familiar figure. He was familiar because of his face- faces, actually. Still dressed in his long black overcoat and shiny shoes, with his black top hat on his head, he looked just the same as before. But something was off. His face- both his faces now looked even more menacing. Even his right face, which was supposed to be the jolly happy one.

"Perseus Jackson! You look well!" started his right face, grinning a smile that you could find on an alligator.

"You look horrible." his left face said, frowning.

"Janus." I nodded my head in greeting, making sure I kept my wariness out of my voice.

"Why are you here, distracting my side in their battle?"

"I choose not to answer!" his right side shouted.

"We do not answer to the likes of you, demigod." His left side snarled.

I could not see their expressions, only the sides of their heads, but from the last encounter we had, I had some idea on how to interrogate him. I decided to put it into action.

"You know, there was some damage on Olympus when the titans attacked a while back, and Lady Hera needs doors to replace the broken ones."

I immediately saw his right face flinch, and his left face twitch.

"They're running out of trees to cut and may need to use transformed doors to make up for-"

"Lady Hera will be gone and faded very soon." Uttered Janus' left face, in a voice mixed with menace and hatred.

The sudden change of tone made me think someone else had said it and had almost made me look around. Janus did not give me a chance to ask him what he meant. Turns out I didn't need to.

Janus right face started giggling hysterically, shouting "Yes! Yes! Faded!". The laugh sent shivers down my spine. He sounded exactly like smeagol from that ring movie.

I took a step back, involuntarily.

"That's right, Perseus. You have every right to be scared." Janus' left face spoke, smiling.

" This time, the Olympians fight an enemy they can never win. Settle your affairs, demigod. Your days are numbered."

Janus' turned his left face to me, his right face still laughing madly. I saw Janus' left face, full on. It was a face in a deep snarl, with eyes that radiated evil intent.

"I was never respected much. Now, I will have your fear in compensation!"

Janus started giving off a sinister aura. A powerful one. One a minor god should not have. Fear bottled in my stomach, but I clamped it down.

"Who gave you this power?" I half asked, half shouted.

A golden portal appeared in front of him. I realized what he was about to do. I quickly stepped forward, but he was too quick. Snarling some words at me, he disappeared into it. What? I didn't even have time to stop him.

Turning around, I quickly recovered and turned my attention back to the monsters. With Janus gone, they seemed to start coming toward where I was. With some time elapsed, I saw that the crowd of monsters were getting lesser, but there were still a large number.

However, Janus' last words echoed in my head. _I am not the only god with two faces, godling._

I portaled back to the hunters, and made my way to Thalia.

The circle of hunters around camp had not been broken, but it was just a matter of time. I looked at the entire campsite. I figured I could portal the tents, wolves and the hunters into Camp Half Blood, but I knew it would seriously drain me.

I did a little test run. Concentrating, I created a giant horizontal black portal over the tents, then sent it crashing down. The tents disappeared under the portal, to somewhere I hoped was Camp Half Blood. I felt a second portal open up above where the campfire was when I was a camper, and deposit the tents there.

"Thalia!"

"A bit busy now, Perce."

"I noticed. Look, I can portal you guys to Camp Half Blood.

"Are you sure? What about the wolves?" Thalia asked.

"They can come, but we need to hurry."

I opened a sphere black portal the size of a cabinet where the tents used to be and told Thalia to make the circle smaller until all we could jump into it without exposing our backs for too long.

Slowly, painfully, we drew backwards, until we were a mere few inches in the portal. When the last hunter jumped in, I fell into my own portal, seeing the inky blackness of a dark tunnel, and finally emerging out into Camp Half Blood, falling flat on my face on a tent. Gahhhhhhhhhh. Bad luck Perseus.

I got up, alone, on a pile of tents. The moment the hunters had dropped here, they must've rushed to reinforce the borders. By now, there was like, what, a hundred monsters left? I flashed to the border, right beside Thalia, who yelped when she saw me. Then I realised I had landed right between Nico and Thalia. Nico glared at me while Thalia frowned and opened her mouth to say something. What she was gonna say, I'll never know.

A blinding golden energy hit the wave of monsters. From the force of the impact, I was sure the hooligans were dead. The energy scorched the ground black, making a small crater in the middle. As the golden glow disappeared, I tried to inspect the aftermath. The smell of sulphur was suffocating. The ground was charred black and radiated the golden, energy. The gold energy looked innocent but there was a sort of sinister aura about it. Then a golden portal appeared. It looked exactly like the one Janus had stepped escaped in. But it was not Janus who stepped out.

It was a figure somewhat familiar, but he was definitely not an Olympian. I was about to thank him for saving our sorry arses, when I realised there was someone lying in the crater. Not just anyone. Artemis.

Fear exploded in my belly. Flashing toward the crater, I tried to see how badly she was injured. Her eyes were shut, and her pale skin a bit burnt. Her auburn hair was in in messed up, and she was not moving. My heart dropped. Suddenly, her eyes opened wide, and the next thing I knew, she was already standing.

"Artemis! Are you okay?"

I was vaguely aware that the hunters were already around her, along with some campers.

"I am. Be ready!" She shouted to her hunters, drawing her knives out of nowhere and turning to face somebody. The hunters turned and readied themselves, while I looked at who she was turning to. In my worry, I had neglected the figure.

Finally, it hit me. The energy blast had not been intended for the monsters, but Artemis.

Now, with the figure walking closer, I could finally see his face. One I never thought I would see again. He had died in the war against Kronos, and I thought I had given him some peace.

Despite the fact that he was supposed to be dead, he looked well. Some deep cuts covered his body, but otherwise, he looked fine.

His eyes gave off a slight gold light, and his body radiated a gold aura. It felt like the same energy Janus had, but even more. So much of the power radiated off him, giving off an immensely sinister energy. I felt like I just wanted to curl up and die. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw some campers and hunters frown, like they wanted to do the same.

"I-" I tried to begin. I could only manage a stutter.

"E- Ethan?"


	12. The plot thickens

_**HAHAHA WHAT'S HAPPENING, GUYS! NOW, MY FRIENDS HAVE PESTERED ME TO DO A LONG KINDA STEAMY SCENE IN THIS STORY THROUGH BLACKMAIL. I DID ONE, BUT IT'S NOT ARTEMIS OR PERSEUS YET (MY WAY OF FIGHTING BACK, ALBEIT THE WEAKNESS OF IT.) OOPS, I SHOULD STOP USING CAPS LOCK. Okay, that's better. Now, I know you guys haven't heard from me in a while, so I made this chapter Long. Like, Long with a capital 'L'. Longer than what I'd usually write. I hope that you ever loving people forgive me. If you don't receive a chapter from me by next week, it's because I'm busy/ very busy / lazy /extremely busy/ sick/ really sick. Also, tell me your thoughts on Nyx and Erebus and whether I should include them more. Mmmhhhmmm. That's about it. So, go ahead, read! ENJOY!**_

**Ultimatedemi-god117: Hahaha, it's definitely not her. Here's your update!Enjoy!**

**Wolfman613: Thanks! Here you go!**

**Toby869: That makes two of us:) Glad you liked it!**

**harryginny9: No, thank YOU, for your review and for reading:D**

**Lmb111514: Missed you too! Wait till you see who else I dragged in too;) Thanks for reading, Lmb!:))**

**NO, I HEREBY PROCLAIM I DO NOT POSSESS PERCY JACKSON. OR ANY NONSENSE OR WHATEVER. OKAY, MAYBE A LOT OF NONSENSE. BUT NOT NONSENSE RELATED TO PERCY JACKSON. WAIT, ISN'T THIS STORY- SCRATCH THAT. I OWN THIS STORY, NOT PERSEUS JACKSON.**

**__**** (Author muttering: Omg, I need to cut down on my sugar intake.)**

* * *

_"I-" I tried to begin. I could only manage a stutter._

_"E- Ethan?"_

**CHAPTER 12: THE THICKENING PLOT**

PERCY'S POV

Ethan Nakamura was a demigod who had initially worked for Kronos, but right before he died, had made the choice to stop Kronos. Right now, he looked alive. More alive than any of us.

My stutter caught his attention. His head turned in my direction, and he gave me a look of distaste.

"Percy Jackson." Ethan formed the words in his mouth like he was chewing a snail.

"Woah. My army tired you out a bit, Jackson." He said in a neutral voice.

"Melpomene." He called.

He opened his hand skyward, like something was going to drop into his hand. Above his head, gold energy formed into a sharp short sword, with a sad theatre mask on its hilt.

I didn't understand. Why? Why was Ethan still against us when I had fulfilled his final wish?

"Why? Why are you doing this, Ethan?" The words came out before I could stop him, and weaker too.

Ethan stopped his advance abruptly, like I had asked the most idiotic question in the world.

"You want to know why I am fighting you? Are you that thick, Percy?"

"I had the gods give the minor gods cabins and-"

"Cabins? Cabins? That's all? I remember asking for thrones, Jackson!"

His voice raised to a shout after the word thrones. His face contorted into a look of anger.

"EVEN WITH MY DEATH, YOU FAILED TO GIVE ME MY WISH!"

His shout felt like a blow to my chest.

"I-"

"Don't speak, Jackson, you pollute my ears with your whining."

Guilt assaulted me, and I fell to my knees.

"He tried his best!" I heard Thalia shout.

"That he did." I heard Artemis punctuate.

"He asked for that as his reward, over godhood." Nico added in.

A chorus of agreement came in, weak at first, but started to go stronger.

I heard a few cries of "Yeah!", some "He did good" and a couple of grunts but overall positive agreements from the campers, who had finally arrived, and the hunters. I was stunned by their support, but Ethan's words still hurt.

Artemis nodded and pulled me up to my feet.

Ethan looked at us as if contemplating something. Then he straightened and spoke. The disdainful look was back on his face.

"Well, I guess, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself."

He twirled the gold sword. As he did, he said something. Still twirling, he started his advance toward us.

I had killed monsters before. And I would, over and over. I proved that earlier. But demigods? I was reluctant. Even with Luke, I wasn't flat out ready to kill him. Ethan was just a demigod who had chosen to do the right thing the wrong way. So you would understand, reader, if I drew my Anaklusmos with a heavy heart.

"Ethan, you don't have to do this. We can go back and make it better-"

"So you and the Olympians can screw it all up again? I don't think so, Percy. The Olympians have got to go."

"Ethan, don't-"

I never got to finish. Ethan muttered something and swiped his sword in our direction when he was only a few meters away.

Gold liquid swiped out in an arc, hitting everyone caught in its path and sending them flying backward. Me included.

The liquid punched into my chest, and I flew back into the wall of the crater, hard.

This was unlike power I had ever seen- or felt. The liquid felt like acid, burning into my skin, eating at my flesh. The pain was unbelievable.

This lasted for a brief second before it touched my new Riptide. The liquid touched Riptide and immediately, a shockwave of black energy hurtled outward from the sword, making the gold liquid disappear.

What?

I saw a look of surprise on Ethan's face before he regained control.

"You met Chaos too?" He shouted at me.

"What are you talking about?" I was shocked the Chaos I knew would have appeared to Ethan.

"Answer me, Jackson!" He shouted, lunging at me.

I blocked his first swipe at my face, and parried his subsequent thrust at my junk.

"You trying to neuter me?" I asked, having got over my initial shock at his words.

"About to! Tell me when you saw him!" Ethan cried, jumping up, then slashing downward.

"When I met your mom last ni-"

"Bite, melpomene!"

A gold arc of energy hit my chest and my armoured shirt took most of the impact. However, the force still sent me reeling back. Ethan was about to take advantage of this when he grunted in pain. Two knives stuck out of his back. As I watched, knives dropped out and the wounds closed. Ethan looked around for the knife thrower.

_I am taking the half bloods out of this fight. They are too weak to fight someone as strong as this son of Nemesis. I am not sure who has given him this power, but we dare not underestimate him. Only some demigods have volunteered to stay and fight. _

Artemis said telepathically. I saw Thalia nod, meaning she must have spoken it to her too. Artemis stood at the other side of the crater, while the hunters lead the campers out of the crater. Thalia, Nico , Dylan, Annabeth and Clarisse stood in the crater to fight. The remaining forces stood at the edge of the crater, blocking any route out. Ethan was trapped.

I saw Ethan survey us, his opponents. One god and say, thirty demigods (including me) against one powerful undead demigod, blessed by an unknown god. We had the advantage.

Ethan had stopped his examination of us. He smiled.

"So, an Olympian and some demigods versus me. The odds seem fair enough."

"Overconfidence does not do one well in battle." Artemis said in a neutral tone, giving Ethan a disdainful look.

"It's not overconfidence if what I say is true." Ethan said with a smirk.

He twirled his sword into an inviting gesture.

"Who's first?"

Earlier, as the campers had gotten out of harm's way, Artemis had briefed us on our attack plan. We did not know which _unpleasant_ god had blessed Ethan, but from what we had seen, he was as strong as an Olympian. The best thing to do would be to end the battle as quickly as possible, and kill Ethan, because we were not sure if we had enough strength to capture him. However, as much as Clarisse wanted to "see how holey she could make Ethan" with her spear, we had to get as much information as possible on who was the god behind this partly because from what power he/she had given Ethan, he/she was powerful and also partly because it was Olympian protocol for enemies.

So, it was why we ended up with this battle plan:

Artemis would try to distract him herself, while Nico and I slowed him down. I also had the job of stopping any more weird gold liquid attacks. (I suspected that Artemis was putting me on the sidelines because she could see my reluctance to hurt him, but I kept my mouth shut.) Annabeth, Dylan and Thalia would add attacks in to try and take Ethan out. The campers at the edges of the crater would stop any escape route Ethan had. Our formation trapped Ethan, and would do so until broken, or Ethan was down.

We were ready when Ethan invited us with a "Who's first?".

Until Dylan dropped his role on the plan, by charging out, and meeting Ethan with a "Me!" (Shocker!). Ethan dodged Dylan's thrust by turning around, exposing his full back to Ethan. Dylan took the bait, stopping his charge and started an attack on that weak spot, but it had been played for a fool. Ethan had pretended to expose his back, but he was still in control of the fight. His gold sword was already swinging round, much faster than Dylan's and about to cut through Dylan's neck. I saw everybody step forward, Annabeth scream Dylan's name and Artemis rushing forward, but I knew she wouldn't make it. I concentrated, and put a portal in front of Ethan's sword, making it vanish right before it cut Dylan's neck. Ethan reeled back when he saw the black portal engulf his sword arm, and his arm came out unscathed. Dylan jumped back too, shocked that he could have died and wary of another trick. Artemis caught him by the scruff of his neck and brought him to the other side of the crater, out of harm's way.

As I cut the energy keeping the portal open, Artemis tried to get the plan back in action by starting her attack. But before she could meet him head on, a gold portal appeared in front of her, making her turn back. Using the time he had just bought, he pointed his sword at me, when I was still feeling the effects of using portal energy abruptly. The sword spat a gold energy and hit me straight on. Riptide was flung from my hands and the world turned into a whizzing blur as I flew back, and hit the... water?

What in Hades? We were not that near the lake in Camp Half Blood.

I burst through the surface and looked around. An endless stretch of red churning sea went on for miles and miles, as red as blood and impossible to see through, and black, cruel skies hurled red rain down into the red ocean. Purple lightning struck in a distance, almost blinding me.

I started panicking as my senses started taking in what was happening. My powers as son of Poseidon were gone. I could not tell where I was, call air bubbles to me or even brea-

A red wave of that water crashed down on top of me and I was forced down into the sea. Whatever the red liquid was, it gushed into my mouth and ears. I felt my ears pop from the pressure. Then I realised what the copperish tasting liquid was. I tasted it whenever I bit my lip, or lost a tooth. Blood. I was in a sea of blood.

If I was panicking before, I was terrified now. I was drowning! My body forgot how to swim, and my body started thrashing. Currents pulled me about, and suddenly I was at the surface again. I had a slight glimpse of a black island then I was down under again. I focused, my mind forcing me toward the island as the fight against the current drained my strength. I moved my arms, and kicked my legs, but my vision was fading, along with my breathing. My body was sore, from getting hit by water or exhaustion I don't know. The water slammed me to my right and I felt pain wreck my mind when I hit something very hard and very large. I was pulled away, then slammed into it again. This time, somehow, I managed to cling onto what I had slammed into with both hands. I just hung on as long as I could, hanging on for dear life, unable to see the island anymore, the blood rain and waves irritating my eyes.

Then my hands started cramping as the effort to hang on the black rock grew harder, with the blood sea pulling away at me.

I couldn't breathe, every time I inhaled a wave crashed into me, sending blood into my mouth and nose, choking me, and as I spluttered and coughed, the next wave came, harder than the last, almost as if the blood sea were hurrying me to my death, impatient at my attempts to fight it.

When the next wave came , my hands gave way, and thrown...

And felt a pair of hands catch me. Someone that could fly. I tried looking up, but the effort drained me of all strength. Quickly, this nightmare world faded to black.

I woke up slowly, savouring the cushions I was on. Memories rushed at me, and I sat up quickly.

The sea of blood, black skies, purple lightning... were not here.

I was in a small cosy, well lit bedroom. I was on the bed, which was on one side of the room, while chair and a wardrobe took the opposite side, with a fireplace in front of the wardrobe. A bed table was on my left, a wooden door to my right, and a fluffy rug in front of the bed. The room looked both modern yet full old fashioned.

If I was not hallucinating, the last thing I remembered was a man with wings carrying me out of the sea. Where was I now? Where had Ethan transported me, and how had he done it?

I heard a click as the door opened, and a man came in with a tray loaded with a plate of rice steak, with a bowl of soup. My stomach rumbled.

"Hahaha , I knew you'd be really hungry already, so I had my wife whip you up some nosh. Eat up, Don't hold back. Let me know if you want seconds. " said the man with a friendly grin, handing the tray out to me.

I studied the man. He was definitely the man who saved me, but he had no wings. He looked about thirty, handsome, his grin a genuine one. He looked a bit like Adam Levine, with the same haircut, but had startlingly blue eyes. He wore a plain white shirt and black jeans. His body was lean, but muscled. I had no doubt the girls in the Aphrodite cabin would flock to him if they saw him. Hades, I bet even girls from the other cabins would.

I took the tray with slightly shaking hands, hunger and exhaustion having made my hands weak. I noticed that his wrists had red marks, as if there had been something tight around them.

"Where am I?" I asked pointedly.

He gave me a long look before walking to a metal sheet on the wall between the wardrobe and chair. Reaching a finger out, he pressed a corner. Immediately, the metal sheet became transparent, but instead of showing the wall, it showed a scene I had did not like. A black shore, and black skies pouring red rain and spitting purple lightning, as well as a familiar sea of red.

"This is a window, showing the outside. It repels the blood rain so you can see through it clearly. We are on a black island in the red sea, on one of the war-wrecked worlds. I do not know how you got here, or where, but that is for later."

"Now eat up quickly, or the food will get cold. Your questions will be answered later. I will be back shortly, for I have things to attend to. For now, just eat."

With that, he walked outside the room and closed the door. It was only then I realised I forgot to ask him what, or who he was.

It was ten minutes later when I finished my meal. While waiting for the man again, I found a silvery metal sphere and sat back on the bed, wondering what it was. I looked into the sphere and blinked. Just like that, I couldn't see anything at all. Everything was pitch black. Then slowly, my vision came back. Except, I was watching something else, like a movie.

I was talking with Artemis, and had just said something. She laughed and looked at me. She gazed into my eyes, and before I knew it, her lips were on mine and they tasted like-like- butter. Why does a moon goddess' lips taste like butter? Was this a dream? She quickly broke off with a laugh, gave me a wink and walked off. I sat down as my knees gave way, trying to remember how to breathe properly.

The scene faded away, replaced by a new one.

Artemis, Thalia, Nico, Dylan, Annabeth ,as well as other campers and hunters were together. All of them were in a bad shape, bleeding badly and covered with many wounds. Some were lying down, motionless, Others helped each other up, some mourned. Artemis, Thalia and Nico were holding someone down, not letting him go. Was it who I thought it was? Yes. Ethan was on the ground a red wound spreading from his left breast. Then I realised that I could hear them.

"WHERE IS HE? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO PERSEUS?"

I almost did not recognise her voice. It was so hoarse, so angry.

"He's not dead, but he's gone, I can't feel his soul anymore, it's like he just vanished into thin air!"

Nico was muttering in shock.

"What does that mean?" Thalia's voice sounded panicked.

"I don't know, I don't know." Nico was saying.

There was a gold flash of light, and Ethan was gone. Artemis sunk to her knees, defeated.

The scene faded, and this time it showed a bedroom very similar to the one I had been in. You could tell they had been designed by the same person and it also looked modern but old fashioned. The difference between the bedrooms? The one I was looking at now was a queen sized bed. On it sat the man who had given me the food and saved me, resting his back on the pile of pillows and staring out of a window , and lying on his chest was a woman I'm guessing he was his wife. She was beautiful, with pale skin, but had long, dark silky hair that fell from her back to his chest. She looked like that mermaid that fell in love with a human from that pirate show Johnny Depp was in. Talk about a stunning couple, these two could win awards on looks alone.

At present moment, she was still lying on him, but resting her side on his chest and placing her head on one arm. At first, she was staring out of the window too, but then she looked away and a very seductive look came over her face. She started running a pale hand all over his chest, before putting it very suggestively on his hip. The man gave a sigh.

"Nyx, Helios and Selene said they may drop in anytime. We don't want to get caught stark naked again."

Nyx, as the man had called her, was not dissuaded. In any case, this spurred her on. "Like you were ever one for being proper, Erebus."

She said, starting to move her hands gently down to his crotch, looking up, her dark eyes focused on his blue ones , and gave him a smile that would have made Cupid shudder with what it implied. The man groaned and sat up straighter, reaching out in an attempt to catch her wandering hands, but he was too slow. Nyx moved and forced him down, through the stack of pillows, and promptly straddled him. Nyx's hands moved and Erebus' shirt was off in an instant. Erebus tried sitting up, but Nyx shoved him back down on the mattress with both hands.

"You're not getting up unless I say so, lover boy." Nyx said, giving him a sultry smile.

"We can't be embarr -mmmmhhhmmm"

His words went muffled as Nyx covered his mouth with hers.

For a moment, his eyes closed as Nyx kissed him. Then Nyx broke off the kiss. Her dark eyes blazed with desire.

"I'm having you now, lover, damn surprise guests or not." She was about to take her black tank top off when Erebus reached up to stop her. He was staring at the window, looking at something.

"Nightingale, I think I see a boy in the sea."

"He must be enjoying at the view." She said, tossing her tank top on the floor, before starting to lower herself down on him.

"He doesn't look like it. He looks like he's drowning."

Nyx looked at where her husband was looking. She scowled.

"You can save him, but afterwards, I'm eating you for dinner, lover." She said, letting her husband go.

"Bite me." Erebus said, winking at Nyx. She replied by making a biting motion.

With a grin, he headed off to the formed a portal, and jumped through, Nyx watching his wings form as he did.

Slowly, she took two objects out from a drawer. Selene had called them handcuffs. They were reinforced with rare metals, making them stronger than anything Hephaestus could make. She slid them in her pockets. Erebus was in for a big surprise.

The scene faded out into a gold one. Literally.

Gold energy radiated from a figure on a throne. It spilled everywhere, making it hard to see. If I could have used my hands, I would have shielded my eyes. As my eyes adjusted, I began to see the source of the gold energy. He was a man so beautiful, he looked like an angel. So beautiful, he looked inhuman. Long gold hair spilled from his head, and gold energy shone out of him, almost like light. His eyes blazed with an even stronger might. Then I noticed something.

The gold beams were destroying everything. By everything, I mean everything the light/energy touched, it destroyed slowly, heating and melting even rocks. Some things were destroyed differently from others, some burned, some corroded away, as if eaten away , others just disappeared. Even ashes were destroyed. The ground was sizzling too, as if being corroded. Nothing was left untouched in his presence. Except one thing. One person, actually. The light could not destroy the kneeling boy, although he was quite wounded.

"I did not succeed."

The man bathed in gold looked at his hands, as if his fingers held more interest to him than anything else. He looked beautiful but he had such terrible power and such terrible eyes. Eyes that shone intense gold light, that destroyed anything they laid on in a matter of seconds.

The figure frowned, and opened his mouth to reply, but the scene was already changing, rearranging. But not before I heard the voice say:

"That much is obvious."

Suddenly, my vision flickered and I was back in the room. The man – Erebus had taken the sphere out of my hands.

"Had fun sightseeing, Perseus Jackson?"


	13. The Answer- Twofold

_**Dudes and Dudettes, happy Easter Sunday! It's 1900hrs and I'm just about to send this chapter off. It's a basically an explanation on who the hell everybody is fighting. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP, REVIEW SO I CAN PRUNE MY WORK, IT WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED, AND I WILL HOLD A SPECIAL PLACE FOR YOU IN MY HEART. **_

_**P.s. This has got to be the longest chapter I've ever written, it's like 5000+ words long:0**_

_**harryginny9: You're welcome, and as always, thanks for reading!**_

_**Avardsin: Thanks! You have a great story yourself!**_

**I DO NOT OWN PERSEUS JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 13: THE ANSWER, TWOFOLD**

_Setting: Just after the creation of Earth, on a planet light years away from earth's location._

NYX'S POV

Nyx sniffed the air. The plant life on this planet she had just arrived on was not bad. It smelled exquisite compared to other planets she had been to. So far, the native life on this planet were just animals, but the local gods ruling this planet were already creating other forms of life. She'd wanted Tartarus to come with her, but she knew the gods here were already quite kind by allowing her to visit, and the presence of another Primordial might scare them into thinking thoughts of an invasion. One would think that planet bound gods should just be happy that her presence increased their powers.

She took ten more steps up the slope she had been trekking up and looked around. The scenery was beautiful. She was standing on top of a slope which was part of a ridge, which was one side of a valley. A river ran alongside the ridge, and from where she was, she could see the other ridge making up the valley, which was almost green from all the plants covering it. The evening light gave everything a yellow-orange glow. Gaea had really decorated this place. Of all the planets Gaea had grown plant life on, this one took the crown. She was really getting good with her powers, that Gaea. This part of the planet used to be a desert. She smiled, enjoying the scenery.

She was about to pluck a flower, when a thud sounded behind her. Earth and dirt were thrown up from behind her flying everywhere, as something fell from the sky. Nyx spun around, ready to face the intruder.

"Woah, woah!" I'm not going to hurt you, Nightingale, it's just me your, friendly, lovable, old Erebus!"

Erebus stood in front of her, smiling that irritating trademark smile of his, holding his hands up and making 'calm down' gestures. His silvery grey wings were extended, showing he had just descended. Nyx scowled. Nyx was beautiful, and had many male gods vying for her attention, Primordials included. Unfortunately, this included Erebus .Of all the Primordials Chaos had created with his mind, she found Erebus the most annoying. He was especially good looking, and _everyone_ flocked to him. By everyone, she meant all sorts of gods, goddesses, and even Primordials! He had broken many hearts, and she was sure that he would break many more. None of the Primordials felt like she did, all of them treating Erebus as a great friend, and could not understand why she disliked him. Right now, he was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you looking at, Nightingale?"

For the second time in two weeks, Nyx scowled. Erebus was really bringing her down.

"Stop calling me that. I don't even know what it is."

Erebus chuckled.

"As moody as ever, that's my Nyx. A nightingale is a bird that Thesis just created on some new planet. It's cute, fluffy, and sings, night or day. Nightingales with no mate sing louder at night. It's almost like y-"

"Erebus, I'm not YOUR Nyx and I don't need a mate." Nyx made her voice sound as irritated as possible.

"You don't, but you want one, and it will be me when you finally realise that you're in love with me."

Nyx rolled her eyes.

"Get lost, Erebus. Go find some other lady gods who want your attention."

Erebus stepped close to her, close enough that their noses could touch. He took her right hand and gently caressed it with his hand and pressing it to his cheek. All the sensitivity in her right arm went into overdrive, her nerves going haywire as his fingers touched her arm, and her body started becoming hot.

"I only want yours, Nightingale. After all, what goes together better than night and darkness?"

Erebus' touch sent millions of sparks up her arm and she felt her arm go limp with delight. Nyx revelled in the pleasure of his touch before realising what she was doing. She snatched her hand back and raised it, before clenching it, using her power to silence Erebus' vocal chords.

"Silence goes better with the night than darkness, really, since the night already brings darkness."

Erebus struggled to speak, but no sound came out of his mouth. Nyx gave him a cruel smile before opening her hand again, freeing his vocal chords. Erebus went into a coughing fit.

"How did you get here anyway? Chaos said only one Primordial was allowed on a planet at any time." The only exception to this rule so far was Gaea and Ouranus who were planning to populate some new planet with their children. They stayed were going to stay on that planet for a long time.

Erebus, already having dispelled his coughing fit, raised a finger.

"Ah, but that rule was made to make sure the gods ruling that particular planet felt comfortable, and I was _invited_ here by those gods."

"Invited? How did that happen?

Erebus looked at his fingers, taking a nonchalant pose.

"The lady gods here happen to know me, and are very nice to me, unlike a particular _moody female god_."

Erebus emphasized the last part, giving her a hurt look.

Nyx rolled her eyes, before manifesting her black wings and taking off somewhere where Erebus was not. She could have portaled, of course, but Chaos had told them only to use their powers only in dire need when on planets ruled by the local gods.

Erebus took off, intent on following her. Nyx smirked. She was older than Erebus, and though he did not know, she had spent most of her first weeks after her creation flying. She banked left, letting the wind take her. Night was about to fall, and everything the night could see from the sky, so could she. She saw Erebus' eyes widen, and him struggling to keep up with her banks and swerves through forest canopies, tree branches, close clustered cliffs, and waterfalls.

Eventually she landed on a beach, tucking her wings in, and making them vanish. She smiled. She had lost Erebus along the way, her superior flight control giving her the upper hand.

She had walked about twenty paces along the beach, enjoying the feel of the sand between her toes when she heard the telepathic screams of many of her primordial siblings. Pain with Primordial siblings's screams. She quickly cut the connection, but the pain seared her mind. What was causing them so much pain? Fear flickered in her body. Many of her siblings were sending their pain through telepathic thoughts and they were not easily defeated.

A gold streak swept across the sky, like a gold shooting star. Nyx frowned. She was sure that was a creation of Chaos' making. The star like thing hit the sea in a distance, sending huge waves of water in all directions. She raised her hand and made a pushing gesture, and the waves were blown back by an invisible force, protecting the island. That was when she realised the gold streak was still moving in the water, toward her. And also that the gold light was a sinister energy, equal to Chaos' himself. Too late, she realised the gold streak was a god.

A gold energy blast sent her to her knees, the pain, excruciating. The soft sand cushioned her fall. A figure bathed in gold light took form in front of her, while she tried standing back up.

"No, no, don't bother getting back up." A male voice said, and instantly, she felt a strong force pushing her down again. _Why was the voice so familiar? Who was he? Why was his power so different, yet similar to Chaos'? Had he killed Chaos and taken his power for himself? What was going on?_

Then, by seeing through the night, she saw his arms, and fear, horror and anger gripped her heart at the same time. His hands were stained with silver ichor, the blood of primordials. She stumbled backward in shock. He reached a ichor stained hand toward her and stepped forward, when suddenly, the darkness of the night became a dark vapour, and assailed him, obscuring his vision, spinning him round, whirling at him. She felt two hands gently grab her pulling her up and she was flying, pressed against a warm ,solid chest. There was a familiar ripping sound of a portal and then they were gone, away from danger.

* * *

PERCY'S POV

_Suddenly, my vision flickered and I was back in the room. The man – Erebus had taken the sphere out of my hands._

_"Had fun sightseeing, Perseus Jackson?"_

I flushed. It was hard not to be guilty when I witnessed him and Nyx in a total make out session.

"I'm sorry, I was waiting for you to come back and I found-"

"No need to be sorry, children are, by nature, inquisitive." He said, smiling gently. He shook the sphere and it vanished.

"How did you-"

" Irrelevant. You are well rested and full, yes? I'm sure you have other questions you want answered."

"How did you get my name?"

"I am protogenai, Primordial god of Darkness. Chaos gave me your name telepathically after you arrived, although he did not mention how you came."

That explained something. Strange that a god of darkness was so friendly. Protogenai. The name rang a bell.

"Are you like Gaea? Her sibling?"

Erebus saw how I had recoiled when I said the name. He chuckled, laughing gingerly.

"Have no fear, Perseus. Neither me nor my wife bring you ill tidings. We are simple, unlike our other brethren."

Right then, I remembered something important. Something I had forgotten as I almost drowned in the blood sea.

"Why would Chaos help me, but appear to my enemies as well?" My ADHD blurted out.

Erebus looked at me, dead in the eyes.

"Do you really wish to know?" Erebus asked, his expression dark.

"Yes."

"Then I will do better. I will show you." Erebus reached a hand out, and slowly, warily, I took it.

A sphere of darkness exploded out of Erebus, and when it was gone, we were in a dark corridor, lit only by fire lamps hung at some intervals along the corridor. The corridor walls were made of some kind of solid stone, like granite. Inscriptions were carved on the walls, sort of like cavemen drawings. Woah. Stone museum alert. I prayed there was no boring lesson coming up.

Erebus walked down one end, and around him, the darkness shrunk back, as if revering him, and I was able to see the inscriptions clearly while walking behind him. It started with one person, who was created out of nothing. Slowly, he made 13 others. Some of these proceeded to make other people, too. There were a lot of drawings after that, but I saw one figure that looked like a woman making 3 others, and I couldn't see the rest of the drawings after that. Erebus turned a corner and I followed, looking at the inscriptions again. There were 17 people, going around, making worlds, then creating life together. They kept making more and more, while having fun, though they competed sometimes.

Then, the inscriptions showed something three gods huddled together, away from the main group, as if scheming something. After that stretch of wall, all the inscriptions were cancelled out by big, deep scratches cut into the stone, as if what the inscriptions told were terrible.

While I had tried to read the inscriptions, Erebus just kept walking forward, not even trying to look at the inscriptions, as if seeing what it showed caused him pain. He just kept walking, and I followed. After a while, it got boring.

"Please tell me this corridor isn't as long as the great wall of China." I blurted out, my ADHD wanting something to focus on. Erebus just kept walking, ignoring me. That dude needed to learn how to hold conversations.

After walking about fifty more spaces, Erebus stopped in front of a door made out of some type of strong metal.

Opening it, a chamber greeted us. Stone seats were on one side of the room, and facing the other wall. We went in, and Erebus held his hand out, and the silver sphere was in it again. He had to teach me how to do that. I was going to make Dylan's money mysteriously disappear.

"All that you think you know of the protogenai, may be wrong. Our history is lost on a world as young as yours, as a newlyborn unable to know the entirety of his grandfather's youth."

Erebus threw the sphere onto the floor, and it dashed into pieces, throwing light and images all around us. Then, my vision went black.

"Uh, Erebus, I can't see."

"Have patience, boy. You wanted to know. I am going to show you."

"In the beginning, before anything existed, there was Chaos, and he was powerful beyond imagining."

My vision came back, but I was actually, _seeing _what Erebus was saying, although I could not see him. But I saw Chaos, but he was different. He looked like a man around forty, with a haughty expression. He radiated power, literally. I felt like I was going to be vapourised, consumed, then used as part of his power.

"Chaos created worlds himself, and filled them with life. One day, however, he decided to create others like himself. So he made 13 others, at different times, making some older than others. They were Ananke, Chronus, Hydros, Thesis, Phanes, Thalassa, Eros, Tartarus, Gaea, Aether, Hemera, Nyx, my wife, and me, Erebus. We all assisted Chaos in creating worlds, and maintaining balance. For at least two millennia, we enjoyed ourselves. Gaea made three other gods: Ouranus, Orea and Pontus. They helped us too, all of us using our god abilities to create new worlds, filling them with life."

"Chronos would take care of time, maintaining its flow, Ananke took care of the fates of the lifeforms we created, Hydros put water on planets, Thesis created animal and plant life, helping them flourish, Phanes made sure the lifeforms procreated, Thalassa made seas and cared for them and the life they held, Eros helped love on its way, Gaea helped greenery and earth blossom on planets, Tartarus made hellish prisons for wrongdoers, Hemera and Nyx made sure day and night ran their courses, and Aether and I kept darkness and light in their place. Chaos made gods that ruled those planets, that they may care for it after we were done creating. However, those gods were planet bound, unable to travel out of the planet they were made to care for. Chaos also made rules for us, to make sure we did not go astray."

I saw the gods working together, making worlds full of colour, full of life, full of wonders.

"But then, Ananke, goddess of compulsion, Chronos, god of time, and Phanes, god of procreation, started to desire more for themselves. They wanted to be able to create life, end worlds and control other gods. Their powers were formidable, but nothing in comparison to Chaos'."

I saw a proud looking woman, an old man in a green cloak and a young man dressed only in loincloth break away from the group, and scheme in a cave, on some planet, while Chaos, looking tired, laid down to sleep on some new world.

"Later, when Chaos lay down to rest from creating so many worlds, Chronos, Father time, had Thesis improve his scythe, making it a weapon stronger than any other, with a metal that could divide the very essence of Chaos himself, claiming to use the weapon for a monster he had found on some planet. Thesis unknowingly made the weapon with good intentions and handed it back to him. So, while Chaos rested, Ananke, Chronos and Phanes gathered and his resting place with his newly reforged scythe."

I saw Chronos speak to Thesis, a smiling young woman who quickly went to work on her new job, before giving it back to Chronos three days later. Immediately, He went to where Chaos was sleeping, where Ananke and Phanes were already waiting. He went stood over Chaos' sleeping form, with his feet at Chaos' head, and brought the scythe up. The scythe winked, in the moonlight almost as if it knew what it was about to do. I realised, with growing horror, what he about to do. I saw Chronos put all his effort into swinging the scythe down. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't."

"And divided his body into two." Erebus spoke almost as if he was reading off a book, not describing a murder to me.

"The moment the scythe had done its work, everything within the solar system Chaos had been murdered in was destroyed by an implosion, and subsequent explosion. Ananke, Chronos and Phanes survived the destruction, but were killed on the spot by the wrath of something else."

I was in shock. I had just seen planets crumble into nothing, all life on them doomed, before being spat out in a massive, enormous, gigantic explosion. But Erebus did not stop.

"Murdered is not the right word, because Chaos did not die. Instead, his two divided parts healed into two separate entities, and were spat out of the explosion into different parts of the universe they had created when merged."

I saw two stars, one burning gold, the other so black, it could not be seen in the darkness of space, shoot out of the explosion.

"One half of Chaos had been driven mad by the betrayal of Phanes, Ananke and Chronos, and was attempting to wipe out all the Protogenai, all the planets, all the worlds he had once created. He had already killed the three traitors with his bare hands, but it was not enough. The other half was trying to save us, and protect the universe."

I saw Erebus carrying Nyx away from a figure burning gold, while Erebus used darkness to smother the gold figure. Another scene came on, and I saw the other part of Chaos, a familiar teenager this time, stand up on the planet he had crashed on, a black aura starting to develop around him.

"The gold Chaos, he used pure power to destroy at least ten planets, and all the gods ruling them, before something became apparent."

A vision of the mad Chaos went through my head like a movie. The gold Chaos clenching his fist, watching from space as the tenth planet imploded with a big smile, as if it brought him great pleasure. Then he clutched his stomach abruptly, his eyes widening. Slowly, he curled into a ball like he was in agony.

"The split had caused the two parts of Chaos to lose an enormous amount of infinite power, that only by merging into one again could they restore themselves to their old glory. But they had no way to combine, to become one again. The scythe Thesis had made was lost, most likely destroyed. But there was hope that it could have landed on another planet, somewhere, somehow. Sadly, there was no time to look."

"The gold Chaos was in a bad shape after a fight with the black Chaos, and this was the protogenai's only chance to fight back. However, only some were brave enough to fight back. Gaea and Ouranus were scared, and would rather stay on Earth than fight, Orea and Pontus stayed with their mother, and Tartarus was more interested on making his newest prison. So, only Aether, Hemera, Eros, Thesis, Hydros, Nyx and I gathered to fight the gold Chaos, to end his quest of destruction to all worlds."

I saw 4 gods and 4 goddesses standing on a field, wearing black battle armour, looking at a barely standing gold Chaos. Before I could blink, the battle started. Water came from the ground in geysers, and one god, Hydros, I think, and Thalassa were making quick hand motions. Thesis opened her palms, and gave a shoving motion, and suddenly they were on a mountain, Chaos was slipping, and water was bombarding him, pushing him down. Hydros was forcing water into his body, then pushing it out. Eros made a move as if he was plucking something, and Chaos, clutched his chest. Nyx and Erebus blinded him with darkness, and Aether and Hemera scorched him with burning light. The water and extreme heat attacks were throwing him the gold Chaos off, and for a while, it seemed as if the protogenai were about to win.

Then the gold Chaos made a pulling motion from the sky to the ground, but nothing happened. The protogenai continued attacking him. That was when they looked up. Two suns and three planets were abnormally large in the skyline. The stars scorched the ground they were on, and the planets cast a great shadow over the planet they were on. The gold Chaos was making a great collision between the three planets and two stars in an insane attempt to kill them.

"Flee!" Eros cried. He grabbed Thesis, and portaled out, Nyx grabbed Erebus and shoved him into a portal before jumping in herself, and Hydros and Thalassa quickly ran into a portal together.

The scene broke, and I was back in the stone chamber, Erebus sitting on one of the stone seats.

"That's my answer, Perseus Jackson. Twofold. We did not win. The gold Chaos still lives, and he still destroys. But he does not use his power. Instead, he turns the planet's gods against each other, enjoying the act of turning others evil. He has destroyed many planets this way, but today, it is Earth's turn. If you do not stop him, Earth will be just like the planet you saw. Blood will run everywhere, and the planet will turn on itself, and everything on it will die. If you had swam west of where you had landed, you would reach a river of ichor, born when the local gods here fought each other. Nothing else will live there. We are still on the planet you landed on, on a different part, underground."

Erebus motioned at me to sit on the stone seat.

"What you are about to see will shock you."

He turned to face the opposite wall, which was blank, and motioned at me to do the same.

"Watch." Erebus said, snapping his fingers.

The moment Erebus snapped his fingers, the blank wall we were looking at slid aside revealing a giant jail cell the size of like a castle. I cried out in shock, jumping off my seat. 'What you are about to see will shock you?' That was the understatement of the century.

Inside this gigantic jail cell, thousands of gods and goddesses were chained to the wall. Why? They were mad. Stark, raving mad. One god was chewing on his arm, the others were moaning, some were screaming their heads off, others were singing, with their heads lolling about. One god was even trying to eat his toes , while foaming at the mouth. Their powers were out of control, water slushing about the cell before suddenly evaporating, lightning zapping about, plants blooming everywhere then dying, animals running about and disappearing.

Erebus snapped his fingers and the wall slid over the jail cell again, blocking the appalling scene from my sight.

"What the hell was that?!" I screamed, pointing my finger at where the jail cell should be.

"Gods and goddesses, driven insane by the destruction of their world, and the deaths of their comrades by their own hands."

"Aren't they supposed to fade?!" I was still shouting. If the gold Chaos won, that could be Poseidon in there.

"The dark matter formed when this world corrupted keeps them alive, barely. The gold Chaos siphons their energy, giving him more power. Don't bother trying to free them, the bars are alive, somehow. Touch them and the gold Chaos will send something down here for us to play with. If that does not stop you, he will siphon all the remaining energy from these poor gods, and they will cease to exist, transformed into energy for the gold Chaos' power."

"If he can do that, why has he not done it already?!"

"It is a warning to us protogenai and also a sort of trophy to him. A warning of what will happen to us, and to other worlds."

All the darkness in the room suddenly bunched up and smothered us, and the next thing I knew, I was in the bedroom that Erebus and Nyx had made out in. Nyx was beside the door, scantily clad in some revealing outfit. I flushed and looked away. Erebus groaned.

"Not in front of the boy, Nighting-"

"Get out ,boy, Erebus will answer your questions later."

Usually, in normal circumstances, I would have obeyed, but this was the fate of Earth we were talking about. Nothing was gonna stop me from asking questions.

"How do we-"

Something hit my arm, and Nyx started advancing towards Erebus, who was backing away. I would have spoken more, but the world was spinning, spinning, flying away...

I woke up in the room I had been brought to when I had almost drowned. Slowly, I reached out of the door and opened it. I felt dizzy and groggy. The door opened to a corridor, with three doors, one marked 'Potion room', the others, 'Master bedroom' and 'Guest room 2". Apparently the room I was in was guest room corridor led me to a big dining room where a dining table sat in the middle of the room. Erebus and Nyx were waiting for me, a single bowl of food sitting on the table, waiting for me.

I didn't bother asking how they had knocked me out, and just went for the food. My stomach was killing me. Erebus was the first to speak up.

"Kronos has taken over the Underworld, and he intends to raise an army of the dead to destroy your world. Every dead being will rise in a matter of days. All that stops him, is the requirement to open the gate. The blood of a strong son of Hades, and the ichor of every Olympian must be offered to the gate to open it. You have to stop him from opening the gate, because if the gold Chaos wins, the fight will be over. "

I just kept munching, still irritated about being knocked out.

"Now, you will ask why. There is a mineral that has just been found on Earth. You may have seen it. If the gold Chaos were to seize control of it, he would be able to merge with the dark Chaos, and become almighty again, only this time, he would be as insane as the gold Chaos was, and have the same goal too: to destroy everything; all forms of life. Everything will come to an end."

Something nagged at me from the back of my mind, and I spoke up.

"Chaos said my enemies were the other siblings of Typhon-"

"No such beings exist. Chaos told you that to give you an enemy. I'm sure he did that so that you would be able to take the truth when you are better trained."

"I'm not even _that_ trained yet."

"Yes, your fight with the son of Nemesis ought to tell you that."

""As such, Chaos has decided that you train here, and Nyx and I will help you awaken what Chaos has already taught you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"The Chaos you saw, he has already taught you to fight any champion the gold Chaos may pick."

"Why do the Chaos parts need champions anyway? Aren't they powerful enough to fight themselves?"

""No. Time is slowly taking away their powers, and at the current moment, both the Chaos parts are extremely weakened. I'm sure that by imparting power and knowledge to you, the dark Chaos is extremely weak now."

"Why would he do that then?"

"Demigod bodies are the best hosts for Chaos power. They are actually able to replicate that power, and make it their own."

I choked. Suddenly I wasn't hungry anymore. This huge responsibility was weighing me down. I pushed the bowl away, retreating to my room, thoughts running wild in my mind. It was later after a good nap, when I decided that it was best to contact Chaos as soon as possible. I burst out of my room, looking for Erebus. He was in the potions room, looking at a bottle.

"It's rude to burst in like that, Perseus." He said, studying the bottle, its contents green in colour. I was about to give a witty remark when I saw something that stopped the words from coming out, making a squeaking sound.

A bottle sat on a counter to the left of the room with a startling resemblance to the one I swear I saw Artemis hold before. "DRAKON TRANQUILISER" was clearly stated on its label. My priorities changed immediately.

"Did you make that potion?" I asked, gesturing at the accursed bottle.

"No, Nyx is the potions master here. She makes them and sells them off. I don't touch the vile stuff." Erebus didn't even look up. His wife had been the maker of the tool of my torture!

"Oh. " I said, an idea forming in my head.

"Anyway, does the dark Chaos visit this place?"

"Yes, quite frequently, actually. If you intend to speak to him, you might want to stay and wait." Erebus wasn't looking at me.

"All right, thank you." I said, taking and hiding the bottle and walking back to my room. I was gonna make Nyx take her own medicine.

It was a day later when I got the chance. Erebus and Nyx were finally out of the of their room. I had heard their moans and yells through the walls throughout the night, and had difficulty trying to go to sleep. Talk about wild, huh.

I slipped in the master bedroom and was about to empty the entire contents of the bottle into the cup. A bell chimed, and I jumped.

"What are you doing?"

I whirled around, hiding the bottle with a sleight of hand. Thank you, Stoll twins. They had showed me how to do that while at a campfire one day.

"Nothing." I said. "Checking out your cool cups."

Erebus stood at the doorway, a suspicious expression on his face. He stepped forward, about to grab me, when Nyx appeared at the door.

"It's nothing Dark stuff, one of my girlfriends just came over. Nothing you need to be worried about."

Looking at me, Nyx gave me an annoyed expression.

"Go to guest room 2, boy."

I ran out grateful, for the escape.

"Wai-" Erebus began, motioning to follow me.

"_You_ stay right here, Dark stuff. Oh, do I have plans for _you._"Nyx was saying, a sudden change in her voice.

Even in the corridor, I could hear Erebus protest, before the master bedroom door slammed shut, leaving Erebus at the mercy of his wife.

What did Nyx want me to go to Guest room 2 for? I was sure that it was just a ploy to get me out of the room so she could go wild with him.

I reached Guest room 2 and opened the door, and stepped in. I felt something hit my right cheek with the force of a truck. I spun into the room, hitting the floor, stars in my head singing a nursery rhyme as I saw the door slam shut.

My assailant was standing beside the closed door, dressed in black jeans and a grey blouse. Her auburn hair was in a ponytail, and her silver eyes flashed.

"That slap was strangely satisfying." She said, her husky voice doing wonders for my libido.

"It's like all my frustration just flew out of the window. Would you mind if I do it again?"


	14. LIGHT DOES NOT EQUATE GOODNESS

_**Hey guys! Thanks for the cheery reviews! I have been really busy lately, so I couldn't get the chance to write:( This should be the last chapter before the main, all out war and romantic shizz so stay tuned, I hope. You should start seeing other sides of Nyx to, as the events unfold, not just the night goddess with the high libido. It's been awesome writing for you guys, and I hope it's been awesome for you to read as well. I WILL TRY TO FINISH THE NEXT CHAPTER BY TOMORROW. IF I DON'T, I WILL AH... I WILL... FEEL REALLY GUILTY AND SLEEP YEAH. YEAH. FITTING PUNISHMENT. **_

_**P.S, ON OTHER NEWS, I AM GOING TO BE PART OF MY COUNTRY'S NATIONAL DAY PARADE AS A TRACEUR!:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD OKAY SPAZZING OVER, ON TO REVIEWS.**_

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_**Wolfman613: Here it is! Sorry for the long wait!**_

_**Nightspoison: Why, thank you:) I do try, and and sometimes I don't know what to think of my own story. I personally think it's a bit shoddy, but I glad you find it interesting!**_

_**Lmb111514: If you like Percy in trouble, wait 2 more chapters;) He should be in boiling water by then.**_

_**Avardsin: Hahaha, thanks! I am a bit of a theatric so I love those kinds of endings. As for Nyx, you'll see different sides of her soon. Thanks for reading!**_

_**the toast ninja: Interesting name, toast ninja! Here you go! Another Chapter! And if all goes well, another one tomorrow!**_

_**The Big Kahuna: Updated! Thank you, that means a lot, Kahuna! (Is that a hawaiian name? Sounds Hawaiian)**_

_**The Toast Ninja: Hey, toast ninja number 2! I know how cliffhangers affect one, I am truly sorry for the long wait! I will compensate you by writing you a +3000 chapter by tomorrow! So, don't hate me! **_

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**CHAPTER 14: LIGHT DOES NOT EQUATE GOODNESS**

I opened my mouth to give a quick protest. What in Hades was Artemis doing here? I had planned to give her an IM from a far away place to escape her wrath for not telling her I was still alive immediately.

"Uh, no-"

"SMACK!"

Another slap hit my other cheek, spinning me a full three sixty on the floor. Now, both my cheeks had joined the red and swelling club. I stayed lying with my back on the floor, not wanting to grab my cheeks. I didn't want to risk moving and provoking Artemis to hit me again.

_Damage control, Percy, do damage control_, I thought. _Soothe the violent moon goddess, before she hits you again. And find out how she got here, pronto._

"I was gonna IM you to say that I was still alive, but-"

"But what, Perseus? But what? What could possibly have stopped you from giving your friends a simple IM to show you were alive?"

Artemis sounded more like an evil, murdering ice queen who turned men into jackalopes, not like a friendly, playful moon goddess I knew from a week ago. My brain switched priority from 'comfort extremely violent moon goddess and extract information' to 'OMG, OMG JUST TELL THE TRUTH TO STAY ALIVE'.

"Igotsent into this planet by Ethan and almost drowned in a sea of blood, I just recovered and I-"

The door swung open.

"You guys doing fine over by yourselves?" Nyx stood at the doorway, first eyeing me lying on the floor with red swelling cheeks, then raised an eyebrow at Artemis. In that moment, I forgave Nyx for creating that damn tranquilizer. I was just grateful for the distraction.

"What happened to him, Art?"

Artemis inspected her fingers.

"Oh, Perseus? He fell and hit his head on the floor. What a fool."

Nyx nodded her head coyly at Artemis.

"How did he hit both cheeks on the floor? Don't they look like handprints? It's almost as if-" Erebus, who had just come up behind Nyx, stopped in his tracks when he saw Nyx and Artemis slowly turn their the evil eyes on him. Erebus seemed to shrink beneath their glares.

"Totally looks like a fall injury. Be careful next time, Perseus. Gotta go!" With that, my one chance at escape turned tail and went back to his room.

With Erebus gone, Nyx and Artemis turned their attention back on me.

"I was going to introduce you, but Artemis already knew you. We've been friends for quite a while now."

"More like sisters, really." Artemis smiled at Nyx. Suddenly it all made sense. Artemis and the maker of Drakon tranquiliser were BFFs. Just my rotten luck. Then something clicked. Erebus had mentioned somewhere that Nyx's presence enhanced the powers of any goddess near her. Chaos had said that Artemis had jumped in terms of power. So that meant that-

"You've been visiting Nyx since I was under your care?"

Artemis didn't look at me. Apparently, she found her nails more interesting than me.

"Not really. Since before that, actually. Nyx and I help each other with our stuffs."

Nyx grinned.

"Hahahaha, yes, that we do."

I was going to say more, when a bell chime rang throughout the house. A second later, a teenager in black appeared behind Nyx. A very familiar one.

"You guys finish up what you have to do. Perseus and I need a chat." Chaos said, casually talking as if there wasn't another half of him out to destroy the galaxy. "I'll leave you alone until you're done."

Chaos walked away from the corridor, out of sight.

"Well, I suppose I should leave you two in peace too. I need to keep the place cloaked. Until then." Nyx said, dismissing us with a wave of her hand and casually walking out. "Oh, and Art, don't be too harsh. Chaos did say we still need him." She winked once at Artemis, then she was gone.

The door closed with mundane finality.

I gulped.

Artemis paced around the room, as if thinking about what to say. Finally, she sighed and sat down on the bed.

"You can't keep doing this Perseus. You can't keep disappearing and almost dying. It frightens your father, me , your friends, everybody."

Guilt broke into my head. Artemis suddenly looked exhausted and crestfallen.

"I didn't want-"

A boom echoed throughout the entire house, and all the lights suddenly turned red.

"An intruder." Artemis breathed. Suddenly, her blouse and jeans were gone, and she was in battle gear. This time, I saw that there were some modifications. Liquid metal was the material of her clothes. Loose and light, but able to guard against the most grevious attacks. The liquid metal gave off a pearly light, and at the back of her armour was a quiver filled with arrows, and a metal tube. Why did Artemis carry weapons when she could materialise them?

"Stay here. And don't move." Artemis said, frowning.

She opened the door, and I saw Nyx, already in a more ancient looking battle gear, sitting on the floor. Silver ichor stained her battle gear. An insidious gold energy clung to it, as if eating at the metal. Artemis' cool broke. A look of shock was on her face.

"Nyx!"

Nyx held up her hand and shreds of darkness stamped out the gold energy, but you could tell she was still hurt. Quickly, her body regenerated, and she was back to normal.

"Erebus and Chaos are fighting him. They don't want us to be on the front line. We are to hit far distance."

Artemis frowned, regaining her composure, and nodded.

"You." Nyx said, pointing at me, "Stay here, don't move".

How carefree Nyx had been earlier was all gone now. She meant business. Her dark pupils had expanded, and now, her eyes were entirely black. She and Artemis went to the corridor and disappeared.

The moment they were gone. I pulled the tag on the cotton shirt I was wearing, and it immediately turned liquid metal. I gave my black cargo pants a slap. Instantly, they too turned liquid metal and separated into a metal cargo pants that reached past my knees, and two shin guards which covered my shins.

Lastly, I took off a silver ring from my finger. The word_ Fear itself_ were inscripted on the ring.

Taking the ring, I threw it at the floor. The floor seemed to eat up the ring, and in exchange spat out an entirely black sword that was similar to a katana. It had a long thin blade, and seemed to distort light. Black bandages covered its hilt. I looked closely at the sword. It had changed in appearance after the battle with Ethan. Yes, reader. This is the same sword I used to fight Ethan. It used to be able to change to anything, and it still could, but it took energy. This was the sword's original form.

Taking a quick peep outside, I almost jumped. Half of the house had been destroyed. Gold and black energy clung to the debris, fizzing each other out.

In the distance, a gold figure tussled and fought with two other figures, both clad in black. Chaos and Erebus. Training with them made me familiar with their forms. A sonic boom sounded, and a arrow with the glow of the moon whizzed in the sky, seemingly hitting the gold Chaos. There was a white glow, and everything near the gold Chaos was caught in the scorching moonlight. A tornado of darkness formed near the gold Chaos had been, sucking anything it could into oblivion.

Suddenly, someone was at my side. Erebus. He grabbed pushed me into a dark portal, but not before I saw the gold chaos rise of the blood sea. His gold aura seemed to explode as he gestured around him, and the blood sea rose, exploding and engulfing everything. My heart wrenched. _Artemis. _An impact of the blast the gold Chaos sent out next knocked me out, even while I was in the portal.

I woke up. I was in Camp Half Blood gain, in the infirmary, lying on a bed. But something was different now. Yes, I was still Perseus Jackson, but I felt like I had just woken up. Like I was now a better version of myself.

Then I woke up, sitting up ramrod straight. I was in Camp Half Blood's infirmary. What? Didn't I just wake up?

"What in Hades is going on?" I asked myself aloud. Then I knew. It was like Chaos had said. I needed to wake up and achieve my full potential. And I think I just did.

"Perseus?"

I looked up. That was when I noticed I was not the only one in the infirmary. Chiron, and a lot of other campers and hunters were there. Almost all the beds except mine were used.

And I did the manliest thing I did since remembering my parent's death, Poseidon banishing me, and me leaving camp. I cried.

When I had cleared up, despite all the weird things that had happened, some of the campers found it cool. To them, I had taken a fought and disappeared, only to reappear with cooler weapons and armour.

Since the campers kept wanting to see Sydonai, my sword, I started carrying it on me in my ring form.

The metal shirt was now cotton shirt, and my pants my normal cargo ones.

The camp had let me back in, but I was eager to leave. There really was no place for me here, even though everyone had learned about the upcoming war and the two Chaoses. I had greeted Thalia (almost got shocked to death. LITERALLY.) in her cabin, and other hunter friends' at Artemis'. Artemis was safe. Erebus had come by, shocking everyone, and sending the Aphrodite girls into a frenzy. Just as I predicted. He had given me the status. Chaos was missing, but Nyx and Artemis was fine. Helios and Selene had dropped by to help out, but the planet they had fought on was destroyed even more.

Artemis was attending the Olympian Council meeting, alongside Erebus and Nyx. They were going to tell everything to the Olympians, and get them ready for yet another war. I was to stay at Camp Half Blood with the campers and hunters, and get them ready for war.

What a lame way to prepare for war. Weren't there better things to do? Like trying to find Ethan, and beating the location of gold Chaos out of him? Now. You may be thinking, if Chaos is all-seeing, why can't he see the gold Chaos. Apparently, both Chaoses cannot see each other unless it is with their own eyes, not power. So they can hide from each other, doing what split Chaoses do.

I cursed. Engrossed in my thoughts, my feet had brought me to a now empty practice room. The day was almost over and there was nobody around here now. I might as well practice. I threw the ring onto the ground and grabbed Sydonai just as the ground spat it out.

"You forgot to greet me, Jackson. And cool sword." Nico's voice said.

I spun around. Nico smiled at me, a new sword in his hand. I started, recognising it for what it was.

"Is that-"

"Yes, "he said, flashing the sword in his hand.

"Father gave me this before Kronos attacked the Underworld. It was modelled after the sword of Hades, and Zeus would never have been allowed it, but the recent Chaos thing terrified the Olympians. They want everyone to be as strong as they can when we fight Kronos and Chaos."

"Wicked."

The sword of Hades had been disposed of, but it seemed Hades had been doing some tinkering around for Nico.

Nico suddenly drove forward, but I blocked his attack. The clash of the blades mad a little air implosion. I countered parrying up, back and forth as Nico and I tested our new swords. We moved back and forth, side to side, lunging, parrying, blocking, slashing. Apparently Aether, a friend of Erebus' had given Nico some training as well. He had met Aether after beating Ethan. According to Nico, Aether and Hemera had just arrived on Earth to fight along with Erebus and Nyx. Nico still could not beat me though. His mistake was that he kept tensing up, slowing his movements down.

"That's enough."

We jumped apart, looking around. We had been having so much fun we hadn't realised that all campers and hunters had come down to watch. I looked at Thalia. She'd been the one to tell us to stop.

"I have an announcement to make everyone!" She shouted.

"Artemis has come back from from the Olympian council." She breathed heavily, as if dreading her next words. "The council has decided there will be war against the gold Chaos. We are to go into the underworld, stop Kronos' forces, like the one that Ethan commanded, and try to capture Kronos. We depart dawn tomorrow."

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**PLEASE REVIEW ON WHETHER I NEED TO ADD MORE COMEDY, ROMANCE, OR... ? **

**THANK YOU!**


	15. HIGH STAKES AND PETTY FIGHTS

_**What is up, readers, here's the chapter as promised, although it is a bit late. PLEASE KEEP THE REVIEWS COMING ON WHAT I SHOULD ADD. PUUUHHHLEEEAASEEEE!**_

_**Reviews:**_

_**Gabby-Swagg: Hmmm... Artemis was a maiden goddess, according to my story;) People change their views and beliefs all the time, nothing really stays the same. Gods and goddesses included. And I don't believe in soulmates, so I don't think anyone is really meant to be together. We CHOOSE WHO WE WANT TO BE WITH. And that, to me, is love. If you want to flame sickening stories, go search gay Charlie and Willy wonka stories. Or don't. I swear, up to this day, I am still traumatised. I used to love that book.**_

_**111one: All right, I'll work on that! Thanks for the review:DDD**_

_**Mikhail: Here's the update! Thanks for the ideas, I'll try my best, duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude:)**_

_**Wolfman613: Got it! Romance! Mmmmhhhmmm, I'm on it! Thanks for the review!**_

_**THeReeder9295: Let's see... I think I have comedy in this one, actions probably in the next chapter and for romance, I'll work that one in as soon as I can. Check, check, check! Thank youfor the review! Hope you keep reeding my stories;)**_

_**ACOOLGUY: Thank you, COOLGUY, that means a lot! Hope you keep reading this 'great story'!**_

**I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON, DAMMIT!**

**CHAPTER 15: HIGH STAKES AND PETTY FIGHTS**

(Percy's POV)

Guess where I am, reader? Go ahead pick a place. Battle? No. Preparing for battle? No. At least doing something useful for the battle ahead? No.

I was at an Olympian council. Why, you may ask? I'll do you a favour and explain. When Artemis, Nyx and Erebus appeared before the Olympian council and proposed that they fight the gold Chaos, there was no mention of five other powerful Primordial gods and goddesses arriving on Earth to help with the war effort. When Zeus got wind of this, paranoia seized his electricity filled head, and he demanded ANOTHER Olympian council with ALL the primordials present to ensure they didn't try to take Earth for themselves. Typical Zeus. Well, at least I had managed to see Tyson and Briares again. Tyson was as innocent as ever, decked in a somewhat decorative general suit that he had put on. I bet all the cash I had on me that the guy who made Tyson put it on was in agonising pain. Speaking of pain, I had taken pains to separate myself from the camper group, sitting with Nico, somewhere far, far away from Dylan and company. I didn't hate him, but he was an annoying ass.

Naturally, Zeus called all the manpower he could to the same meeting so that he could stop the primordials with sheer numbers in case the primordials tried anything. So, that explains why all the hunters, some thousand Cyclopes, Briares, all the campers in Camp Half Blood, and some minor gods, as well as god knows who were here sat on the many benches before the Olympians today. Frankly, I was surprised how blooming big the hall was. Fifty oil tankers could fit snugly in here with space for more. The ceiling was at least fifteen metres tall, with decorated supports that kept the place secure. The thrones of the gods were on a raised platform, in a U fashion, in front of the plethora of benches that made up the rest of the room.

It had been fifteen minutes since I had come in, and the meeting still hadn't started. Ten minutes earlier, Erebus, Nyx and the black Chaos had come in with four figures I hadn't seen before. It seemed that Erebus and Nyx weren't the only Primordials with looks. These four were beautiful too. Was it in their genes or what? Nico seemed to recognise one. He pointed at blonde woman cloaked in white liquid metal armour. Her long gold hair cascaded down her back, and I swear, if you ever asked me to describe a beautiful elf, I would describe her. Her skin was pale, and she seemed to emit an aura of light. I realised that I was not the only one staring at her. Many satyrs and cyclopes, as well as some campers were gaping at her. Even Apollo. This was not good. I heard she was Aether's girlfriend or something.

"That's Hemera. I saw her once while training with Aether."

Then I noticed that Nico was fidgeting a lot. That usually meant he was excited, or that he was nervous. Strangely, I realised it was excitement. I decided to inquire.

"What's all the excitement for, Death breath?"

" I wanna how the Olympians are gonna handle Aether."

I looked around. He didn't seem to be here. According to Erebus, only Thalassa, Hydros, Eros, Aether, Hemera, Thesis, Nyx and him were willing to fight the gold Chaos. The rest of the primordials went their separate ways and did their own thing. Gaea came to my mind. _Such selfishness_, I thought. I brushed that thought aside. It was pointless to wonder and groan at what idiot evil gods chose to do with their powers. It just wouldn't change anything. I looked about the hall with my eyes again. Aether was still not here. However nice he had been to train some campers, he was late to the council meeting, and he would not make a good impression on the Olympians.

Speaking of the Olympians, they had just arrived, shrinking their thrones to normal human chair sizes, making more space for the primordials, who made thrones from out of nowhere, changing the U formation to a oval formation. Two thrones were made of pure water, and they had been formed by a blue haired primordial man, and a dark haired woman with a pixie cut. But where the woman's throne seemed to be made of calm, slow moving water, the man's were filled with typhoons, currents, hurricanes and tsunamis. Hemera had made a throne of shining light, as orange as the sunset. Mini clouds moved on its surface. Erebus and Chaos had opted for simplicity. Both sat on thrones of pure darkness, thrones that light could not penetrate. Nyx made hers a bit more decorated. Her throne was like the night sky, complete with night clouds and a full moon swirling around in it. A young woman sat in a seat filled with all types of mini animals and plants running or growing around it, most alien, some earthly. Another teenager I presumed was Eros sat on a simple stone throne with the words _ LOVE ROCKS _on the back of it.

Both the Primordials and the Olympians were seated on their thrones now, and they regarded the each other with glances. There was a big gap between Hemera's throne and the young woman who had the animals and plants on her throne. I assumed it was where Aether was supposed to put his throne. With 12 Olympians and 8 Primordials in the gigantic hall, the air was heavy with power, and breathing suddenly seemed really hard. I saw Nico being affected too, shifting his body to breathe better. I looked at Artemis. She had changed the design of her throne, a simple stone throne with intricate designs all around it. It shone with the radiance of the moon, giving Artemis a totally foxy look. _Oh gods ,if only I had a camera._

Finally Zeus broke the silence.

"We have gathered to get your sworn word that you will not try to overthrow the gods in any way, or decide to take power for yourselves. The meeting should start now, despite the absence of one of your group." He boomed in a very authoritative voice. Zeus seemed to keep his proud act on, even though there were eight more Primordials that could beat him with only a pinkie here.

"We have no intention to overthrow you, and we never will. Our only interest is to defeat my other half."

Chaos seemed to reply casually enough, as if talking about defeating the other half of yourself was COMPLETELY normal.

Ares snorted, and Hera scoffed.

Athena cleared her throat.

"Your Primordial associate, Gaea does not seem to think so. She has hidden Typhon from us, and even now, she still seeks to end us Olympians."

This triggered an uproar from the Olympians, and many voices shouted their agreement at once.

"Damn right!" Ares gruff voice went, before he shouted more stuff that I couldn't hear.

Aphrodite gave a haughty "Hmmmpphhpphh" of agreement.

I couldn't hear what Hermes was shouting, Dad was counting his fingers, as if giving out occasions and ways of how Gaea had been a bitch, Apollo was making wild gestures, as if describing in avid detail how many times he had had to defeat Gaea.

"SILENCE!"

Hemera shouted, making a slashing gesture in the air

"We do not speak for Gaea. She abandoned us when the Chaos of light came for us all. She left us to die, along with Tartarus and Ouranus."

Hemera was fierce in her reply, but she seemed to keep her cool while shouting.

Chaos of light was another name for the gold Chaos, because he seemed to think he was fighting for justice and also for the colour of his aura, according to Erebus. It was the name the Primordials and Chaos had given the Olympians to avoid confusion.

"I believe you, gorgeous." Apollo said, giving Hemera a wink.

_Oh my gods, what was he doing? She's a Primordial's girlfriend._

Nico had the same shocked face as I did, and the hunters seemed to give an audible groan.

Artemis rolled her eyes, and for some reason, I wanted to see her do it again.

Ares chuckled.

"Same here, babe."

Hemera had kept a straight face till then, but Ares' reply made her frown.

The man on the water throne, Hydros ,started arguing with Apollo, and Nyx and Aphrodite were giving each other death stares.

Eros stood up, giving Ares and Apollo glares.

"You two best stop this. She is engaged."

Uh oh. That couldn't be good. Seven minutes and the council was gonna be a warzone soon.

It would have been, if a blinding ball of white light appeared in the centre of the oval throne formation, dropping a blonde haired man of about twenty into the room. He was dressed in armour, but it was obvious he had just gotten out of bed. Everyone stared at him with shock. From the beauty and the white glow he gave off, I was guessing that this was Aether.

All the bickering stopped and everyone's attention suddenly focused onto the man.

"Oh my god, so this is what the locals call a hangover." he said, clutching his head.

Nico, who had been slouching and starting to fall asleep, sat upright and grinned, as if he was about to watch a movie. Noticing how I was looking at him, he turned back to watch.

"Yup, that's Aether. Why didn't I bring popcorn?"

Aether turned to Zeus.

"Hey, you happen to have any bacon here? I heard that works wonders."

Zeus' eyes widened , as if the man had asked him to strip naked and Party Rock.

"No? I guess I'll have to bear with it then. Oh, wait. I could just wish it away."

He frowned, and closed his eyes, and when he was done, he snapped his fingers and a throne of white light formed, with thousands of mini suns dancing on it. He collapsed on it, lying sideways, with his feet hanging off the armrest of the throne.

I looked back at the council. Chaos had put his hands over his eyes, as if it was painful for him to watch. Most of the Primordials were facepalming, and closing their eyes, as if Aether wishing Aether away. The only ones who weren't were Hydros, Eros and Hemera. Hemera had developed a sudden interest in her hands, and Hydros and Eros were still slouched on their seats, as if expecting this.

Eros broke the third silence in the meeting.

"You're late."

"Fashionably so, Eros. I was taking a trip round town and found their local beverages. Alcohol, Eros! The stuff that helps mortals get babies without your arrows." Aether said, doing a finger gun and mock shooting Eros, who was looking at his shoes.

"Of course, I don't need alcohol for girls. They already swarm me without it."

It was becoming clear that Aether and Erebus were exact opposites. Aether was like Apollo, but much more arrogant. Actually, no, Apollo was like HIM.

Aether was now inspecting all the goddesses in the room. His eyes landed on Hemera.

He jerked upright, sitting properly in his throne.

"Hemera! What are you doing here!"

Hemera just narrowed her eyes and gave him an evil smile.

Aether paled, losing some of his confidence.

Apollo decided to start a fight.

"Watching you embarrass yourself, you drunkard."

Ares laughed.

Aether sat up straight, and lifted his head, giving off a haughty expression. He knew Apollo wanted HIS woman Hemera, HIS girlfriend, and he took it seriously. He gave Apollo a good look. Then he spoke.

"Who in tarnation are you supposed to be?"

Apollo sat up straight. Aphrodite and Artemis tried to stop him but he continued the banter, cutting them off. This Primordial had put him down, and he would have none of it. Zeus and Chaos were looking at the walls, like they had never seen noticed before.

"I am Apollo, god of Archery, Music, Prophecy, Healing, Poetry, and last but not least, the sun."

Apollo raised both hands in a calming gesture.

"Don't be mad if I'm better at being a god than you are."

Aether snorted and laughed. Like, really laughed. He clutched his sides, and bent down his throne, trying to contain his laughter.

"You? God of the sun?"

He gestured at Apollo's throne, which glowed yellow-gold.

"What is the light and heat of one sun compared to white ,blinding light itself? I am the Primordial of _LIGHT,_ and your sun is ,my creation, just a small part of my power."

Aether looked at his hands again, relaxing on his light throne.

"If I crapped right now, I bet you my shit would shine brighter than you ever could."

That was the first time I had ever seen a sun god turn purple in colour. Apollo's eyes widened at first, and his tan face slowly turned a purple colour, and his hands started shaking.

His eyes bulged, and he was shaking with anger. He stood up, pointing at Aether.

"You- You – You- What did you say?!" Apollo shrieked.

I noticed the hunters were stifling giggles.

Aether was twiddling his fingers now, like he was experimenting on how to move them.

Ares decided to join the fray.

"Now that is too insulting. Take that back, Primordial."

Aether sat up, as if hearing something shocking.

"Oh my god."

He looked around.

"I swear I heard a dog bark."

It took a full minute for Ares to understand that he was being insulted.

Apollo was still shrieking with rage when Ares stiffened, finally realising that the Primordial of light had just called him a dog.

He lunged out of his seat when Aether and his throne abruptly disappeared into thin air.

Black leaping shadows forced a screaming Apollo back into his throne, and Ares into his.

All this while, the Primordials had been either facepalming or looking anywhere but the squabblers, but finally Erebus spoke up.

"We are here to agree that we will not overthrow you Olympians and take the Earth for ourselves and we will now do so."

As if on cue, all the Primordials said the oath together, Aether suddenly turning visible.

When it was done, Chaos stood.

"Now that we have resolved this issue, the war begins now. We will send out an army of hunters and campers tomorrow, along with some Primordials, since we are bound by lesser laws, to help take the Underworld back. It will not be a quest for only three campers, but a strong war force of many."

Chaos gestured at the young woman with the plant and animal throne.

"Thesis, I am sorry, but you will have to make weapons for the army, and replenish them."

Thesis nodded relauctantly.

Chaos looked at Hydros and the woman on the water throne.

"Hydros and Thalassa, prepare the seas for war with the help of Poseidon. You can teach him a thing or two too."

Hydros gave a friendly nod to Dad while Thalassa smiled warmly at him.

Dad gave them a friendly smile.

"Athena, Aether , Zeus and I will command and make plans, occasionally giving help in times of dire need."

Chaos nodded at Zeus. He seemed okay as long as he was in command.

"The rest of the Olympians can stay and wait for my other half to arrive, and help in the fight against him."

Chaos looked around, a serious look on his face.

"This is a matter of top priority. If my other half manages to take the sapporan from Kronos, he will be able to fuse me to himself, with his mind in control. If that does happen, he will be back in our prime, back in top form. A snap of his fingers will reduce this universe to nothing."

Chaos looked into every Olympian's eyes, ominously and meaningfully.

"So if you do fight, fight for your lives. Fight as if this world is about to end. Because it might."

Chaos paced to face the benches.

"On top of this, you will need to stop Kronos from opening the gate and raising the dead. We stop him first and take the sapporan, and bring it to command."

He turned around.

"That should be all. You depart tomorrow. Get ready."

With that, Chaos dismissed us with a wave.

(Narrative)

Ethan watched the traitor bow before the Chaos of Light.

"I have news, my lord."

The gold Chaos looked at him, the gold beams his eyes emitted destroyed everything around the traitor except the traitor himself.

"Entertain me." the Chaos said, sitting up.

"The Primordials have managed to gain the cooperation of the Olympians. They plan to attack the Underworld tomorrow.

Chaos frowned. This was not going the way he planned.

"You may go."

Chaos flicked his hand, and the traitor went back to his friends.

Gathering his energy, he spat out gold energy at the floor.

Three gold streams of gold light formed into three figures- An old man, a proud woman, and a man in a loincloth.

Chaos forced himself to look calm, but the pain and effort of what he had just done slammed him like a wrecking ball. He needed to get back to his prime soon, and quickly.

"You three, I forgive your transgression. Carry out my orders, and I will allow you to be free again, or fail, and I will consume you- this time, forever."

The three figures bowed.

"Yes, master."

A surge of irritation went through his body despite the pain and exhaustion.

"Don't address me as master. Call me teacher. Like you once did."

* * *

**_PLEASE HELP ME IMPROVE MY WRITING WITH REVIEWS, PEOPLE! PLEASE? IT DOESN'T TAKE LONG. PLEASE TELL ME WHO YOU WANNA SEE MORE!_**

**_(AETHER, EREBUS, NYX, CHAOS?)_**

**_WHAT COUPLES YOU MIGHT WANNA SEE MORE, STUFF LIKE THAT._**

**_(THALICO, POTHENA, ETC..)_**

**_UNTIL THE NEXT CHAPTER, HAVE A GOOD TIME:))))))))))) _**


	16. Chapter 16: Mysteries Upon Mysteries

**CHAPTER 16: Mysteries Upon Mysteries **

_Hey Guys, sorry for the long hiatus, but I had a lot to do! I know, I know, it's unforgivable, but I'm trying my best, okay? Your romantic moments are coming next chapter, because I still need to add a bit more stuff to this chapter. I hope you enjoy this, and please, READ AND REVIEW:))))  
_

_p.s, if there are a lot of mistakes, I'm sorry! I'm typing this at 3am in the morning and there's school later:X_

**REVIEWS:**

**Wolfman613: It's coming in the next chapter, buddy:) That's a promise.**

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**Without further ado, please enjoy the story:)**

_**I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORY. PERIOD.**_

_The night was quiet as the two figures circled each other, one small, the other six times the small ones size. _

_"It's okay, Genesis, you can do it!"_

_The boy called Genesis turned his head back, and gave Chaos a quick but bright smile. He turned back to the front just in time to dodge under the beast that had tried to rip his innards out while he had smiled at his mentor. It was strange seeing an eleven year old boy holding only a spear face off against a monster as tall as a two storey building. I wanted to scream at Chaos, to push the boy out of the way, but I couldn't. Chaos simply watched, tensing as he watched the beast and kid face each other. It was another one of those dreams where I was only able to watch, invisible and nonexistent to people I was watching. _

_The beast swiped again, but the boy was ready. He leapt onto the beasts hand, his voice a quiet whisper as he murmured something. The next moment, the beast roared as the spear made a 'thunk' sound as it slipped into the monster's chest._

_The boy flipped, slowing his fall, and landed lightly on his feet into a crouch. The boy stood up. His throw had been precise, perfect almost. The spear had met almost no resistance, slipping through the ribs, into the heart._

_Chaos yelled his congratulations as the boy got him in a bear hug. _

_"Well done, Genesis! That's the second time you've managed to slay a monster of this power level! I'm proud of you! We can head back to any planet you want now, clean up, celebrate, then it's back to the list for you! "_

_Genesis grinned._

_"I was okay with everything until you said 'back to the list', father! Do I really have to?"_

_Chaos knocked Genesis' head. _

_"Of course you do, boy. You have much to learn still." Chaos said with a stern voice._

_Genesis put on his best dejected face. _

_"Now take your equipment and let's go, your holiday of one moon cycle begins now. "_

_Genesis grinned, dashed over to where his spear lay on the ground. The monster had already burst into white light, no doubt sent back to this planet's prison for beasts._

_Chaos took out a list of monsters that Genesis had yet to slay. Cancelling another name, he noticed that Thalassa had added a new name to the list. _

_'Typhon' he read. _

_Another name added to the list of thousands of monsters Genesis needed to dispatch. _

_No matter, Chaos thought. If anyone could dispatch all the monsters without harming the environment, it was Genesis. The boy was only eleven, but Chaos was estimating that by twenty five years of age, Genesis would have long surpassed him._

Percy's POV

I woke up with my head throbbing. It was the morning after the the rowdy meeting between the Primordials and the Olympians. I groaned. This dream didn't make any sense. Who was Genesis? Chaos had not said he had a son, but I had heard the kid Genesis call Chaos his father. My thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt as I realised that someone was hitting the door of the poseidon cabin. I groaned again, opening the door and peering outside.

I shock went through my body when I realised it was Annabeth. Her cheeks were red as she knelt outside my tent, about to knock again.

"Annabeth?" I croaked drowsily.

Annabeth's lips tilted up as she took in my bedraggled appearance.

"No sleep last night? "

I opened the door fully, and started to lean on the doorway. Confusion was starting to well up in me, but I answered her question before giving her my own.

"Yeah, weird dreams running around my head last night. What are you doing here?"

Annabeth looked at me coolly before answering.

"I'm not allowed to be here? "

Just like a daughter of Athena to answer a question with a question.

"No, it's just... never mind."

I got up, taking my battle gear with me, as I closed the tent flap.

"Where are you going? " Annabeth shot at me.

"To change," I said, "if I listened correctly, Chaos announced that we were going to depart for war today and since you don't want to tell me why you have woken me up, I want to wash up."

"Wait! Percy!"

Annabeth grabbed my shoulder, stopping my attempt to head to the showers.

"I need a favour." she said, biting her lip.

"Go ahead." I said, arching my eyebrow.

"Well, I want you to find out if there are any more primordials."

I frowned.

"What makes you think there are more?"

"Well, Mom was thinking and... it doesn't make sense. You see, mom asked Aether to show her how many worlds the Chaos of light had corrupted, to gauge his power. She saw thousands of thousands of planets, Percy. If he had corrupted and stolen all the energy from the planets and the gods ruling them, he should be way stronger than he is now. Way stronger. In fact, mom thinks if he had the power Aether said he had, even the Primordials and Olympians couldn't do much against him."

I just gaped at her, speechless.

"Mom thinks there were some other Primordials who stripped him of his power, but are either missing or the Primordials are hiding them. "

I remembered the dark corridor Erebus had led me through to the mad gods.

"Annabeth, Ethan sent flung me into some other corrupted planet and I saw this corridor which led to the gods driven crazy from the corruption. There was a story engraved onto the wall. I didn't see much, but if I could go back..."

"Great! I can come with you! "

I froze.

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not, Perseus? It's perfect! You could sneak in with me while I look at the engrave-"

"Look, Annabeth. If I was caught there with you, the primordials will suspect the olympians of treason. You go back to Dylan, while I handle this alone. it will be easier to explain if I get caught alone. They won't be as suspicious. "

I knew Annabeth wanted to go so she could impress Athena with her work, at that was clouding her judgement a bit.

"You're right." She sighed.

"I am. I'll get back to you if I find anything. "

I walked to the showers before she could stop me. I was torn. I was sure the Primordials were hiding something, but I knew it was definitely not for evil intentions.

Erebus, Chaos and and Nyx, although weird, had been more than kind. I would have to do some detective work.

It was ten o'clock when Aether, Erebus and Eros mass portaled the hunters and campers that were going to fight to a desolate desert somewhere. From there, they were supposed to portal us to the underworld. We could have portaled to the underworld straight from Camp Half Blood, but the portal was two way and we did not want to chance any monsters portaling into Camp Half Blood and wreaking havoc.

Now, you might notice that I said 'supposed'. No, it was not a mistake. We made it to the dessert, but from there, things got messy. No matter how much the three Primordials tried, the portal refused to open. The energy would form, but it refused to open into a portal. After ten minutes of waiting, Erebus groaned in frustration.

"Someone is blocking the portal from forming in the underworld." he snarled.

Aether and Eros sat on the scorching sand, apparently not feeling anything. All the campers looked at Dylan for directions, while the ones who didn't looked to me. The hunters started to talk with Thalia. With no way to get to the underworld, our attack couldn't go on.

"Fret not." Aether's voice was heard above all the other voices that had been starting to rise.

"The source of the jam is definitely near us. All we need to do is wait for it to come and destroy it."

Erebus frowned.

"Aether is right. It's best to settle down while we wait for the source to reveal itself. Chaos or Kronos would want to stop us before we reach the Underworld. This desert is too big to search, and we need to stay here and guard in case there is something you cannot handle."

Aether looked up at the sun, his eyes glowing white. A second later, the heat dimmed to a bearable level. Erebus concentrated, and roof of black energy formed above the campers and hunters, supported by pillars of the same energy.

"Do not be too comfortable." Eros said, addressing all of us.

"Beware, fighters. We are not sure who is the source of the jam, but whoever he or she may be, they have to be very strong in order to negate our attempts to form a portal. Be ready to fight at any given moment."

Erebus added in his thoughts.

"I suggest that you set up camp and make patrols around our camp until we tell you otherwise. Be sure that nobody spends too much time in the sun, lest you find yourselves collapsing from the heat."

With that, sat down, waiting for the source to show itself.

It was night when a black portal opened in the centre of the camp, and Nyx stepped out, holding something in her hand. By this time, we had all set up tents under the roof.

Nyx stepped into the tent that Aether, Erebus and Eros shared. I hadn't gotten a good look, but I had a feeling I knew what Nyx had been holding in her hand. The silvery sphere I had held while on one of the corrupt worlds. If I could get my hands on it, I might be able to try and see the missing Primordials that Annabeth had been talking about! I slipped back into my tent, hoping to catch some Z's. Battle was coming soon, and I wanted as much rest as I could.

"Nico! Perseus! Thalia! Annabeth! Dylan! Get your arses over to our tent!" Aether's voice boomed.

Putting down the finished breakfast that Athena had flashed in for our attack force, I got dressed into battle gear and headed straight for the Primordial's tent.

Nico and Thalia were already there. Annabeth came a second later, with Dylan at her heels. Then I noticed his new spear, and gaped. It was the colour of the sea, and shimmered with a light blue glow.

"Like my new weapon, Jackson? Father gave it to me, because I did well in leading the camp."

Hot, seething rage built up in my body. I took back all I said about not hating Dylan. How could I ever have said that I was okay with him? Beside him, Annabeth's eyes widened. She knew what I was about to do. I was furious. With Dylan the boy who had taken my friends, my girlfriend, and Annabeth, who had left her when I needed her most.

My body tensed, about to tackle him when I found I couldn't move. I couldn't even move my eyelids. Chaos' voice spoke in my head, his stern tone saying that he meant business.

_I have taken away the emotional barrier guarding you, so you are now on your own. Ensure that you do not disgrace me as your teacher with your actions, and strive to give me your best, as you promised me, to help others. It will be hard to hold them back, but you are strong, and you will persevere._

"Uh, Percy?"

I tore my eyes away from Dylan to look at Nico.

Nico stared at me with an arched eyebrow.

It was then I noticed that my entire body was tense, shaking while my fists were clenched. I also noticed that everyone was staring at me with a what-the-hell face.

"Are you all right, Perseus?" Erebus asked, glaring at Dylan and me.

"I do not want to have fights breaking out among our own comrades."

Aether stared at me like I was crazy.

"Hey Percy, are you tripping on something? Because I can't have a junkie on my search team."

"Search team?"

"Yes, starting now, you five are part of the search team, along with me, Erebus and Eros. Nyx, Thalassa and Artemis will take care of the camp here while we try to hunt down the source of the jam."

"Wait a minute. Didn't Chaos say that you were part of command? What are you doing here?" Annabeth asked warily.

Aether looked at Erebus as if he was the one who was supposed to answer for him.

"I'm not saying anything. Tell them that stupid excuse you gave me."

Erebus said with a monotone voice as he glared at Aether.

Aether looked at Eros, who shook his head while widening his eyes.

Aether sighed.

"Since you two idiots don't want to explain, I will. A lot depended on this attack here, so command thought it was best to give you guys a bit more godpower. Jeez, it's like I have to do all the work around her-"

"Says the guy who just woke up." Eros interjected.

"You were supposed to tell them they were part of the search team last night, but you had to go to command."

"It's not my fault I have to juggle my command and attack force duties!"

That was when Thalia frowned.

"Last night? Command duties? You were at the Hunters' tent area, hitting on us!"

Erebus' and Eros' faces contorted into expressions of pure fury.

Aether looked around wildly, before raising a finger and speaking.

"Now, guys, I can explain. I was... Oh, my, look at the time, Athena expects me in an-"

A pale hand reached out of the Primordials tent behind him, and touched his shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere, you womaniser." Nyx said, stepping out of the tent but keeping her hand on Aether's shoulder.

"I'm to tell you that Aether actually skipped his command duties, so Athena thought it was best to kick him out. He is to travel with you and give your group more power. You better get going before any more time is wasted. Artemis and I will guard in your stead."

So there we were in the desert fifteen minutes later, headed north, in search of our mystery powerful portal jammer. Sand dunes stretched everywhere, and the overbearing heat was enough so that I would bet that if I threw and egg on a rock, it would fry in seconds. Okay, maybe that's exaggerating a bit. But it was really, really hot.

"Hostiles coming in at 12'oclock." Erebus said, grinning.

"Hey! You learnt the human military talk thing!" Eros cried.

"Travis and Connor Stoll." Erebus said.

"I'm cooler than you now, Aether."

Ever since the Primordials had heard the concept of being 'cool' from one of the campers, they had been competing to see who was cooler.

Twelve empousai marched toward us as we headed north.

"Guys, I'll take care of this. I got Thesis to make me a grenade. I'm still officially cooler than you, Erebus. It's modern technology or something."

He grabbed the grenade and gave it a good look. Then he frowned.

"Is it supposed to look like a mutated bird?"

"It's definitely Thesis' design, all right." Eros chuckled.

I looked at what Aether was holding. It was a figurine of tweety bird. Erebus started snickering, along with Nico and Dylan. Thalia and Annabeth joined in too.

"She said it was voice activated or something."

"Try saying: I thought I thaw a puddy tat." Eros grinned.

"No, she said it was something cool!"

"You should know by now that Thesis' and your definitions of cool are different, hotshot. You just lost a lot of coolness points."

It turned out that Eros was right. Five seconds after the Aether said tweety bird's famous line, it exploded after being thrown at the empousai.

Half an hour later, the campers and Erebus stopped teasing Aether.

Boredom drove me to strike a conversation with Eros, who was fiddling with something in his hand.

"What's that?" I asked him, as he fiddled with a stone. He cast me a good natured look. It's a _kwalstan_.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Another planet's word for moonstone. They're very rare, taken from deep down the cores of moons, and they form very slowly, and only on certain moons."

"Can I see?"

"Sure." He said, plopping it into my hand.

The stone was smooth, pearly white and opaque, but you could see it was a bit translucent in the desert sun. I admired it, thinking about how beautiful it was.

"Here you go." I said, handing the moonstone back.

"No, no, no. Keep it. I heard Artemis loves them. She's always wanted them, but couldn't leave Earth to get them, because moonstones do not form on your planet's moon. You could... give her a lil' sumthin' to warm her up towards you." He said, winking.

"I can't-" I started to say.

"Just take it." Eros said, before dropping to the back of the group.

I looked around.

Erebus took the front of the group, deciding where we searched, while Eros took the back, guarding the group's rear. Aether walked in the centre of our team, ready to give assistance when necessary, or so he claimed. Right now, the Primordial god of light was complaining about how everyone was out to get him despite his hard work.

"I do work all day, managing the many suns and guiding light, and you guys still give me work to do." The whiny Primordial sighed.

"You should be thanking me on bended knees! I slave away giving light while you guys enjoy your suntans. You must thank your lucky stars I'm so patient and generous to you ungrateful twats."

I had noticed that a muscle under the eyes of the other two Primordials had been to twitching uncontrollably. At the word 'twat' Erebus broke.

"Oh my god. Waaaa! Shut up you whiny girl! Even the mortals are quieter than you, oh whinging god of light."

Eros started smiling. It was becoming apparent that Aether was annoying even to the Primordials.

Aether, however, was not about to take the insult.

"Oh, I'm the god of darkness, I'm so powerful." Aether started shrieking in a high pitched girly voice.

"I still wet my tent while I sleep though. Real turn off for my wifey."

Erebus' eyes widened. He continued walking, but I saw his stride jerk only for the slightest moment at the insult.

He opened his mouth to retort when a sand dune in front of us exploded, and an eight foot minotaur with empousai scales on its chest and clawed hellhound paws for legs came from under the sand, dragging along a golden axe. We were still caught by surprise and even I didn't move a muscle as the mutated minotaur surprised us with a downward cleave with axe, but it never made it.

So fast I could barely see it, a arrow made of flesh and bone whizzed past me, hitting the minotaur in the man's torso where it's heart should have been. Axe and minotaur burst into sulphur, which Erebus used dark energy to deflect.

I looked behind me, wondering why Thalia had used and arrow made of bone and meat to take out the minotaur. I was half shocked and impressed with how good she had become. Then I saw that Thalia was staring behind her with her mouth open. Then her look of astonishment and awe turned to horror.

"You used _bones_ _and meat _to make an arrow?!" She half shrieked, half yelled at Eros.

"That's cruel! There are better materials to-"

"I doubt it. This is taken from the corpses of monsters from another world. They are so toxic, their own poison kills them after a century. They have to be killed and hunted because they poison wherever they walk, and kill countless lives. Do not feel sorry for them, for they were once intelligent lifeforms which chose to hurry their evolution by drinking elixirs they concocted. Their poisonous new forms are the products of their greed."

Eros blew on his hands, and all traces of the meat and grisly parts disappeared from his hands. He had already vanished his bow while speaking.

"Wow. The Primordial god of love is a goth. Who knew?" Dylan smirked.

Erebus started to speak.

"A monster that big getting close to us without us sensing? Someone must have hidden it until it attacked. We must be near the source. Let's head-"

Someone's phone started ringing.

_I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love__  
__Love's going to leave me__I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt__  
__So sexy it hurts__  
_

Aether fumbled at his pockets.

"Whoops, call coming in, guys."

Erebus' eyes narrowed. Aether avoided looking at him while he answered.

"Hey, baby. Yeah, I'm at work. Lawyer and all that. Got rich clients to rip off."

Eros started to breathe in and out very deeply, like he was trying to calm himself down.

Aether glanced around at all of us, taking in his fellow Primordial's expressions of near hate and the rest of us sporting shocked faces. That included me.

"Really busy now babe, love you too, talk to you later." Aether tapped the screen of the iPhone and slipped it back in his pocket. Just ike that, the combat mood was ruined.

Eros' face darkened.

"That wasn't Hemera, was it? It was a mortal. You lied to her, about who you were didn't you, hook up king?"

Aether smiled soothingly.

"Now, now, Eros, I know how you are about lying and love and all that stuff. Do you think I would really do that?"

Eros' face showed his answer.

"Not the time, brothers."

Erebus' voice was calm and serious. Immediately, we looked at him.

He held a hand to his ear while another drew out dark energy that formed into a spear.

Black metal blades sprouted from his back, and formed into wings. The individual blades were razor sharp. Woah. Erebus had cool new wings.

As we got battle ready, I realised that even Aether had seemed to sense something, and he frowned in anger, before quickly regaining his cool.

I looked around. There was no enemy I could see. Sand dunes stretched for miles, blocking a lot of my vision, and sand swirled around our feet.

Wait a minute. I checked again. Yes. The sand was swirling, but there was no wind at all. The air felt dense, like something was going to happen. I looked at Nico. He nodded at me. We had both noticed the weird sand and I was about to yell at Erebus about the weird sand, when it happened.

The sand swept down like a tornado, trying to bury us alive. Nico and Thalia grabbed each other as they attempted to run out, while Dylan tried to dash out by himself. Annabeth and I weren't so lucky. We had been standing near the centre of the group, exactly where the eye of the small sand suction was bury to eat us alive. Training with Chaos took over. I called up energy to make a portal and shove Annabeth and I through, but nothing was happening. The sand was literally absorbing the energy before I could form a portal.

In that split-second, I made a decision. I had to do it manually. I shoved Annabeth as high and hard as I could, hoping that she would be out of range of the sand suction. It must have worked, because I didn't see her fall back inside the suction. But the toss had cost me. My legs, which had dug in deep in the sand, was already trapped. In a second, the sand was already whipping at my neck.

A strong force pulled at my hand, and I almost felt my arm get ripped out of its socket.

Once again, that feeling of flying then we were on the ground again, Erebus letting go of me as he spun around to face the figure that had appeared. Everyone was armed, facing the lone figure.

The figure was dressed in gold armour. He was a young adult, with brown hair and tan skin. His eyes were brown, and he had a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

"No, no, no, no, why?" Aether was muttering, an expression of anguish on his face.

"Phanes?" Eros was frowning, his voice shocked.

"What's wrong? Can't you recognise my dashing face, Eros?"

"How are you alive? We felt you die! You-" Eros was starting to stutter, struggling to understand.

"Don't remind me, please."

"Why are you-"

"That's simple. My task is to stop any forces from breaching the underworld."

Erebus' face hardened. Eros' did as well. Aether's face took on a look of quiet anger.

"You joined Aurum." Aether's voice was one of barely controlled anger.

Aurum was our entire side's codename for the gold Chaos. According to Nyx, who briefed us this morning, it was what some fallen planets had called him.

"Reluctantly, yes." Phanes had not stopped grinning.

"What's wrong, Aether? You and I used to grin and joke all the time! Can't it be the same?"

"It will never be the same."

Aether's voice was harsh and cold.

Phanes sighed.

"I guess that means you're going to fight? Because you don't need to, you know. You have no obligation to."

"I do, actually. It's called honour, and I and many others have it. Too bad you're lacking."

It was weird to hear Aether talk about honour, but he seemed to mean what he said.

Aether twirled the radiant white staff he held, made purely of white light energy. It hurt to look at it.

A cruel look came over Phanes' face.

"So be it then."

There were two more flashes of gold, and an old bearded man and a proud looking woman appeared, both dressed in gold armour. All three took their weapons out.

Ananke took out twin sabres, Chronos, a sickle, and Phanes, a devastatingly large sword.

"Ananke." Eros spat.

" Chronos." Erebus muttered.

There was a second of stillness. Then the fray began.

* * *

**_PLEASE REVIEW ON ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! UNTIL THE NEXT CHAPTER,TAKE CARE:))))_**


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